Brief Communication abstract
Nature Neuroscience 12, 544 - 546 (2009)
Published online: 6 April 2009 | doi:10.1038/nn.2292
Relief of itch by scratching: state-dependent inhibition of primate spinothalamic tract neurons
Steve Davidson1,2, Xijing Zhang2, Sergey G Khasabov3, Donald A Simone1,3 & Glenn J Giesler Jr1,2
Itch is relieved by scratching, but the neural mechanisms that are responsible for this are unknown. Spinothalamic tract (STT) neurons respond to itch-producing agents and transmit pruritic information to the brain. We observed that scratching the cutaneous receptive field of primate STT neurons produced inhibition during histamine-evoked activity but not during spontaneous activity or activity evoked by a painful stimulus, suggesting that scratching inhibits the transmission of itch in the spinal cord in a state-dependent manner.
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
- Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Correspondence to: Glenn J Giesler Jr1,2 e-mail: giesler@umn.edu
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
RESEARCH
Spinothalamic lamina I neurons selectively sensitive to histamine: a central neural pathway for itchNature Neuroscience Article (01 Jan 2001)
See all 3 matches for Research
