Are you tired of being cold all the time, even when its not cold outside? Scientist have discovered a protein that could put an end it. Its called TRPM8, and its what senses the cold, and gives menthol its cool feeling. It also controls the relieving of pain when exposed to cool temperatures.
The protein also seems to be involved in a condition called ‘cold allodynia’ in which patients become hypersensitive to cold temperatures. Ning Qin, of Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical research and development lab in Pennsylvania, and his colleagues surgically induced the condition in their mice and then measured the animals’ response to cold. Mice without TRPM8 lacked the cold sensitivity caused by the condition3. - Nature.com
Cool stuff if you ask me. Its amazing how one little protein can control so much of the way your body reacts in cold temperatures. Just goes to show, we still have a lot to learn about the human body.
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