Neuron Path Discovery May Change Our Conception of Itching

Hugh Pickens writes "Historically, many scientists have regarded itching as just a less intense version of pain, though decades spent searching for itch-specific nerve cells have been unfruitful. Now, Nature reports that neuroscientist Zhou-Feng Chen and his colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri have found the first behavioral evidence that there are separate circuits of nerve cells to convey itchiness and pain, and their studies suggest that itch and pain signals are transmitted along different pathways in the spinal cord. 'Most people accept that there are specific, highly specialized neurons for sensations like taste,' says Chen. 'But for pain and itch this is much more controversial.'" (Continues below.) "Two years ago, Chen's group discovered that a cell-surface protein called the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) is important for sensing itchiness but not pain in mice. When Chen and his colleagues destroyed GRPR-bearing neurons by means of a cell toxin, the mice reacted to painful stimuli just like normal mice, licking themselves and flinching or jumping in response to heat, highly irritant chemicals and mechanical pressure. But when the researchers injected the animals with chemicals that normally cause scratching, such as histamine, they barely responded, and the greater the number of GRPR-expressing neurons destroyed, the more subdued was the scratching response."

Comments

Itch

[Tofof]

Great. After reading that, now I'm keenly aware of itching sensations all over my body - not unlike watching someone yawn.

Re:Ouch. Torturous.

[DNS-and-BIND]

If hooking a car battery up to a monkey's brain will help find the cure for AIDS and save somebody's life, I have two things to say... the red is positive and the black is negative.
--Nick Dipaolo

Re:Ouch. Torturous.

[Rakshasa Taisab]

Hey, I'd be all ok even if it was your brain being wired up for some car battery shocks.

Re:Pondering the luck of others

[DMUTPeregrine]

Some do, actually. Phantom Limb syndrome does weird things. The worst bit is it's totally impossible to scratch it.

Re:Ouch. Torturous.

[dcollins]

"If hooking a car battery up to a monkey's brain will help find the cure for AIDS and save somebody's life, I have two things to say... the red is positive and the black is negative.
--Nick Dipaolo"

What if it's a hundred monkeys? A million monkeys? A billion? What if there's a 5% chance it might help? What if it's a researcher who thinks it might help, but hasn't been right to date?