Editor's Summary

9 August 2007

Technical itch

The unpleasant sense of itching, or pruritus, is well known, but its neurobiological basis has remained elusive. Now the first molecular player in the 'itch pathway' has been identified. Historically, itch has been regarded as a less intense variant of the pain sensation. But work with knockout mice shows that the 'gastrin-releasing peptide receptor' is important for communication of itchy, but not painful, stimuli to the central nervous system. This receptor could therefore be a target for the development of antipruritic drugs that do not affect pain signalling.

Letter: A gastrin-releasing peptide receptor mediates the itch sensation in the spinal cord

Yan-Gang Sun & Zhou-Feng Chen

doi:10.1038/nature06029

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