Population encoding of cool and warm by thermoreceptors
- 1Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany; Neuroscience Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; The University of Queensland, Queensland Brain Institute, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected]
- 2Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany; Neuroscience Research Center, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected]
Abstract
Innocuous temperature sensation arises from the activity of primary afferent thermoreceptors, but how these neurons encode cool and warm at the population level remains unclear. Using two-photon in vivo imaging of the L4 dorsal root ganglion in awake and anesthetized mice, we show that the thermoreceptor population is strongly biased toward activation by cooling and suppression of activity by warming. Although thermoreceptors activated by cool or warm only are present in the population, most show bidirectional responses and encode absolute temperatures in a graded manner. Pharmacological manipulations and computational modeling suggest that both activation and suppression could arise from a single cool-selective channel, TRPM8, with diverse response profiles explained by differences in TRPM8 conductance. Our findings support a model in which innocuous temperature is largely encoded by a single functional class of thermoreceptor via graded, bidirectional changes in activity rather than exclusively by anatomically and functionally distinct cool and warm cells.
Related
- Cool and warm conditions disrupt development through divergent mechanisms in larvae of the reef-building coral Orbicella faveolata
- Stepping-stone population structure and sidespread clonality of the mesophotic octocoral Swiftia exserta in the warm temperate northwest Atlantic
- Decomposition trajectories in mixed-species leaf litter in cool-temperate deciduous forest with understory dwarf bamboo
- Effects of Tillage Practices and Plastic Film Mulching on Soil Temperature, Dry Matter Production, and Yield Formation of Maize in a Cool Region
- Fair-weather friends: Group size boosts reproduction in wet, cool years in a cooperative breeder
BibTeX
@article{bokiniec2026population,
title = {{Population encoding of cool and warm by thermoreceptors}},
author = {Phillip Bokiniec and Clarissa J. Whitmire and James F.A. Poulet},
journal = {Neuron},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1016/j.neuron.2026.06.021},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.06.021},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Population encoding of cool and warm by thermoreceptors
AU - Phillip Bokiniec
AU - Clarissa J. Whitmire
AU - James F.A. Poulet
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - Neuron
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2026.06.021
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.06.021
AB - Innocuous temperature sensation arises from the activity of primary afferent thermoreceptors, but how these neurons encode cool and warm at the population level remains unclear. Using two-photon in vivo imaging of the L4 dorsal root ganglion in awake and anesthetized mice, we show that the thermoreceptor population is strongly biased toward activation by cooling and suppression of activity by warming. Although thermoreceptors activated by cool or warm only are present in the population, most show bidirectional responses and encode absolute temperatures in a graded manner. Pharmacological manipulations and computational modeling suggest that both activation and suppression could arise from a single cool-selective channel, TRPM8, with diverse response profiles explained by differences in TRPM8 conductance. Our findings support a model in which innocuous temperature is largely encoded by a single functional class of thermoreceptor via graded, bidirectional changes in activity rather than exclusively by anatomically and functionally distinct cool and warm cells.
SN - 0896-6273
SN - 1097-4199
ER -