TRPV1-lineage neurons are essential for thermal sensation

Abstract

There is much evidence that TRP-ion channels are the molecular detectors of temperature and their activation is responsible for detection of thermal stimuli by peripheral sensory neurons. In particular TRPV1 has been proposed to be the principle sensor of noxious heat. However, TRPV1 knockout mice have only a modest phenotypic loss of responses to heat. We used a molecular genetic approach to label and eliminate neurons that express TRPV1 to understand the cellular basis of thermal sensation. Transgenic mice that express fluorescent marker in cells that express TRPV1 showed a restricted pattern of expression of the TRPV1 ion-channel and revealed that it is expressed more broadly during development.