Scientists have shed light on the bodily mechanism that causes you to heave and cough aggressively when a drink goes “down the wrong hole.”
There are some bodily functions that we humans are only starting to get a handle on. For instance, earlier this week researchers revealed how blinking is actually used to better transfer visual information to the brain.
Why water goes down the wrong hole in the first place
This week, Ziai Zhu and Xin Sun from the University of California, San Diego, published a study in the Science Journal that detailed why humans have such a visceral reaction to water going “down the wrong hole.”
If you’ve never had the displeasure of experiencing the sensation, it’s hell. Essentially, when a liquid goes down the windpipe that leads to our lungs, the body triggers a two-pronged response of violent coughing followed by sudden gulping. Though undoubtedly horrid, the reflex protects the lungs from contracting potentially deadly bacteria.
Though scientists have long understood that the process is triggered by nerves, they have now revealed how neuroendocrine cells play a part too.
What are neuroendocrine cells?
Despite only taking up 0.5% of the airway, these cells have the ability to identify water and acid in your airway. When isolated, they trigger the release of a chemical called ATP which sends the signal to our brains.
“Going into this study, I generally assumed that most of this [coughing] reflex was driven by sensory neurons,” said co-senior study author Laura Seeholzer. “So when I found that these rare epithelial cells were also detecting these stimuli, and that they were communicating with the nervous system, it kind of clicked that ‘Oh, these cells could also be really important.'”
