Evolution of touch and proprioception of the limbs: Insights from fish and humans.

Curr Opin Neurobiol

William Rainey Harper Professor in Organismal Biology and Anatomy and The College, Dept. of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago, 1027 E 57(th) St, Chicago IL 60637 USA. Electronic address:

Published: December 2021

The function of the hands is inextricably linked to cutaneous mechanosensation, both in touch and in how hand movement and posture (proprioception) are controlled. The structure and behavior of hands and distal forelimbs of other vertebrates have been evolutionarily shaped by these mechanosensory functions. The distal forelimb of tetrapod vertebrates is homologous to the pectoral fin rays and membrane of fishes. Fish fins demonstrate similar mechanosensory abilities to hands and other distal tetrapod forelimbs in touch and proprioception. These results indicate that vertebrates were using the core mechanosensory inputs, such as fast adapting and slow adapting nerve responses, to inform fin and limb function and behavior before their diversification in fish and tetrapod lineages.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.08.009DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

touch proprioception
8
hands distal
8
evolution touch
4
proprioception limbs
4
limbs insights
4
insights fish
4
fish humans
4
humans function
4
function hands
4
hands inextricably
4

Similar Publications

Sensory and Motor Function, Pain, and Health Status in Children with Arthrogryposis and Myelomeningocele.

Children (Basel)

December 2024

Department of Women's and Children's Health, Division of Paediatric Neurology, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, S-17176 Stockholm, Sweden.

Background/objectives: Proprioception and sensory disorders have been reported in children with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) and myelomeningocele (MMC), but valid and reliable assessment tools are limited in accurately identifying the sensory aspects of motor disorders. This study aimed to investigate the somatosensory status in the feet and legs. An additional purpose of this study was to explore pain, skin irritations, and health status.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the sensorimotor function in patients with unilateral chronic ankle instability (CAI) and compare their abilities to healthy controls, focusing on sensory reweighting and vestibular modulation.
  • Twenty individuals with unilateral CAI and twenty healthy participants underwent various tests to evaluate ankle proprioception, plantar sensation, balance, and motor control, using a mix of analyses to compare the groups.
  • Results indicated that those with CAI had increased sensory thresholds for light touch and two-point discrimination bilaterally, moderate deficits in certain motor control measures, and showed postural instability in balance tests when compared to healthy controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Research using the model organism nematode has greatly facilitated our understanding of sensory biology, including touch, olfaction, taste, vision and proprioception. While hearing had long been considered to be restricted to vertebrates and some arthropods, we recently discovered that is capable of sensing and responding to airborne sound in a frequency and sound source-size-dependent manner. auditory sensation occurs when airborne sound physically vibrates their external cuticle (skin) to activate the sound-sensitive mechanosensory FLP/PVD neurons via nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), triggering aversive phonotaxis behavior.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Balance recovery schemes following mediolateral gyroscopic moment perturbations during walking.

PLoS One

December 2024

Lauflabor Locomotion Laboratory, Institute of Sport Science, Centre for Cognitive Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany.

Maintaining balance during human walking hinges on the exquisite orchestration of whole-body angular momentum (WBAM). This study delves into the regulation of WBAM during gait by examining balance strategies in response to upper-body moment perturbations in the frontal plane. A portable Angular Momentum Perturbator (AMP) was utilized in this work, capable of generating perturbation torques on the upper body while minimizing the impact on the center of mass (CoM) excursions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study investigated how the judgment of proximal joint position can be affected by touch alone, focused attention on the distal body part, or touch spatial localization. Participants completed a two-arm elbow joint position-matching task, in which they indicated the location of one forearm by the placement of the other. In four test conditions, matching was performed during (1) detection of touch (tactile stimulation of index finger pads), (2) spatial localization of fingers (attention focused on the position of index finger pads), (3) spatial localization of touch on fingers (attention focused on tactile stimulation of index finger pads), and (4) detection of touch but localization of fingers (tactile stimulation of index finger pads, but attention focusing on the spatial position of the pads).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!