alt Hacker News> “These findings could help explain what happens when the body’s thermoreceptors become impaired in ageing and disease.”
> ...this new understanding of the body’s thermoreceptors could inform treatments for people struggling with thermal dysfunction.
It would be amazing if this research also led to a treatment for the rare symptom of temperature reversal caused by ciguatera fish poisoning (ciguatoxin neurotoxins) overstimulating one's nerves. I am not personally afflicted but have friends who have been; one is still dealing with various symptoms many years later.
Replies
pizzafeelsright • yesterday at 11:23 PM
get poisoned twice and flip the bit?
Thats super interesting I've never heard of this before. It seems that toxin gives a persistent increase in the activity of the sodium channel(s) that make cold painful. I imagine similar to how cold water on frozen fingers feels burning hot.
Several years ago I went to a talk about a receptor (TRPM8) that is activated by cold and also minty flavors(!). Would be curious to know if your friends experience(d) mint as burning/uncomfortable. If not, it would suggest the pathology is linked to separate cold-sensing physiology/pathways/neurons than the common "cool" feeling most are familiar with.