Scientists have discovered how to control thirst
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Neurophysiologists from the United States of America found in the brain of mice an area that is responsible for feeling thirsty, while they also managed to control its performance. According to experts, this discovery can be useful for doctors who treat extravascular disorders in old age, which cause frustration of a sense of thirst.
The discovery was made in the research center of Columbia University by Charles Zucker and his group. To date, experts from the team Zucker are considered the leading among scientists who study the work of the brain on the processing and perception of taste. About twenty years ago this group of specialists identified and described chains of neurons that help to recognize the main five flavors.
As Zucker noted, water does not taste, for this reason the body is not able to estimate the amount of liquid and the volume of liquid drunk from changes in the level of its molecules.
In all likelihood, signals of dehydration in the body are given by other mechanisms, the principle of which scientists could not unravel.
A few years ago, experts monitored the condition of the animal's brain, which suffered from severe thirst. As a result, they found that the center of thirst is in the brain subduction, which is also responsible for the production of hormones, appetite, cardiovascular activity and other functions.
All the following studies in this area failed, specialists failed to test the hypothesis and learn to keep the feeling of thirst under control. Effects on various groups of neurons in the subduction did not force animals to feel a strong thirst or vice versa, to give up water. Zucker's team decided to again check the results of previous studies using the method of "connecting" and "turning off" neurons with a laser or light (optogenetics).
With the help of optoginetics, Zucker and his team were able to understand what had caused the failure of all past studies. As it turned out, there are two groups of nerve cells in the subduction, which take part in the appearance of a sense of thirst. One type of nerve cells - CAMKII-neurons - is responsible for the appearance of thirst, and the second - VGAT-neurons - for suppressing this feeling.
As explained by experts, mice that were quietly in the cage, laser stimulation of a group of neurons that arouse thirst, forced the animal to look for a source of water and drink until the laser is turned on. During the experiments, rodents drank a huge amount of liquid, about 10% of the animal's body weight (this is equal to if a person drank about 6 liters).
Also, experts worked on another group of neurons and received the opposite effect, which is the previous one. Rodents drank 80% less water than they needed.
Now experts do not know what excites this or that group of neurons in the brain. In the opinion of Zucker's team, groups of neurons control the level of water indirectly, noting changes in the electrolyte balance of the body.
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