Sneezing and coughing are two different ways of accomplishing the same.
As new research suggests, this assumption was wrong.
That allowed them to figure out exactly which sets of neurons were actually involved in triggering a sneeze.
New research identifies separate neural pathways for triggering sneezes and coughs.Image: James Gathany - CDC Public Health Image library ID 11162
To verify the findings, the doctors infected the poor mice with the flu.
In mice where MrgprC11 was deactivated, the mice got sick and coughed, but couldnt sneeze.
Instead, coughing was connected to a completely different set of neurons.
This must have been pretty cute in real life. © Cell
The research also resulted in a happy accident.
Among some scientists, its apparently controversial as to whether mice can actually cough.
So now we know mice can cough, which is nice.
It may not seem like a big deal that sneezing and coughing are resulting from different mechanisms.
Both are essentially the body spewing out microbes and some icky fluids.
As any allergy sufferer can attest, thats nothing to sneeze at.
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