ScienceDaily (July 31, 2012) — Cold feet -- those chilly appendages that plague many people in the winter and an unlucky few all year round -- can be the bane of existence for singles and couples alike. In a new study, scientists led by Selvi C. Jeyaraj of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital have identified a biological mechanism that may be responsible for icy extremities: an interaction between a series of molecules and receptors on smooth muscle cells that line the skin's tiny blood vessels.
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The new research, along with an accompanying editorial by Martin C. Michel of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, and Paul A. Insel of the University of California at San Diego, suggest new contributors to this near-universal problem and potential targets to treat more serious problems that affect blood vessels in the cold, such as in Raynaud's disease.
The article appears in the American Journal of Physiology -- Cell Physiology.
Methodology
Jeyaraj and her colleagues studied smooth muscle cells derived from tiny blood vessels harvested from human skin biopsies and similar cells from mouse tail arteries. These cells contain receptors known as
See Also:
The new research, along with an accompanying editorial by Martin C. Michel of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, and Paul A. Insel of the University of California at San Diego, suggest new contributors to this near-universal problem and potential targets to treat more serious problems that affect blood vessels in the cold, such as in Raynaud's disease.
The article appears in the American Journal of Physiology -- Cell Physiology.
Methodology
Jeyaraj and her colleagues studied smooth muscle cells derived from tiny blood vessels harvested from human skin biopsies and similar cells from mouse tail arteries. These cells contain receptors known as