Author Topic: Gaining Insight Into Some Itches  (Read 283 times)

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Offline gwillybj

Gaining Insight Into Some Itches
« on: November 03, 2015, 12:44:39 pm »
The New York Times
Gaining Insight Into Some Itches
NOV. 2, 2015
Science | Observatory
By SINDYA N. BHANOO

Some kinds of itching can be caused by the lightest of touches, a barely felt graze that rustles tiny hairs on the skin’s surface. This type of itch is created via a dedicated neural pathway, a new study suggests.

The finding, which appears in the journal Science, could help researchers better understand chronic itchiness in conditions like eczema, diabetic neuropathy, multiple sclerosis and some cancers. The study also may help researchers determine why certain patients do not respond well to antihistamine drugs.

“In the future, we may have some way to manipulate neuron activity to inhibit itching,” said Quifu Ma, a neurobiologist at Harvard University and one of the study’s authors.

In the study, Dr. Ma and his colleagues inhibited neurons that express a neuropeptide known as Y or NPY in mice. When these neurons were suppressed and the mice were poked with a tiny filament, they fell into scratching fits.


A cross-section of a mouse dorsal spinal cord. A study of mice found dedicated neural pathways created a specific type of itch. Steeve Bourane/Salk Institute

Normally, mice would not even respond to this sort of stimuli. “We start to see skin lesions — they don’t stop scratching,” Dr. Ma said. “It’s pretty traumatic.”

The neurons only seem related to itches prompted by light touching, known as mechanically induced itches. Chemical itches, like those caused by a mosquito bite or an allergic reaction, are not transmitted by the same neurons.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/science/gaining-insight-into-some-itches.html

A version of this article appears in print on November 3, 2015, on page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Neurology: Study Suggests Path to Understanding Itches.
Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying. ― Arthur C. Clarke
I am on a mission to see how much coffee it takes to actually achieve time travel. :wave:

 

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