Hope for chronic itching
Itching can cause pain and disruption
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Thursday, 26, Jul 2007 01:45
New treatments for chronic and severe itching could be developed after scientists discovered the gene for the itch sensation in the central nervous system.
Chronic itching is a widespread problem and can be caused by skin disorders like eczema or from a deeper problem such as kidney failure.
As well as causing pain and scarring, itching can be disruptive by disturbing sleep patterns.
Scientists from Washington University school of medicine believe this problem could soon be targeted to provide relief to sufferers following their discovery of the 'itch' gene.
"Many genes have been identified in the pain pathway," said Dr Zhou-Feng Chen, associate professor of anaesthesiology, psychiatry and molecular biology and pharmacology.
"But itch research has lived in the shadow of pain research, and no-one knew which gene was responsible for itching in the brain or in the spinal cord until now."
They found that the itch gene, known as GRPR (gastrin-releasing peptide receptor), works with a receptor found in a small bundle of spinal cord nerve cells which transmit pain and itch signals from the skin to the brain.
Tests on mice which lacked this gene showed that they scratched much less than the normal mice when given an itching stimulus.
The scientists also suggest that pain and itch are controlled by separate sets of genes in the spinal cord. This is an important discovery as it implies drugs can be used to suppress the itch sensation without affecting the pain sensation, which is a vital cue that something is wrong.
The findings are published in the Nature journal through advance online publication.