Rat Whiskers Give Clues To Blinking Disorder

A rat's whiskers may hold vital clues to a debilitating human disorder called blepharospasm, an eye condition characterized by uncontrolled blinking. Physicists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) say they've identified a rat neural circuit that coordinates sensory input and muscle activity in the rodents' whiskers -- a circuit nearly identical to that which controls human blinking. Because it gives new insights into neural "positive feedback loops," the researchers believe the finding could yield new treatments for blepharospasm. The study appears in the Feb. 3 issue of Neuron.