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UrduB-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) plays a key role in chronic itch severity and can help to identify certain types of itch with a simple blood test, according to a new study led by Gil Yosipovitch, M.D., director of the Miami Itch Center, and Santosh Mishra, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and associate professor at the North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine.
Tag: itch
Neural pathway key to sensation of pleasant touch identified
Researchers from the Washington University Center for the Study of Itch and Sensory Disorders have identified a specific neuropeptide and a neural circuit that transmit pleasant touch from the skin to the brain. The findings eventually may help scientists better understand and treat disorders characterized by touch avoidance and impaired social development.
Study May Help Pregnant Women and Others ‘Scratch’ Spinal Morphine-Induced Itch
Researchers identified spinal cord neurons responsible for an itchy sensation after an epidural morphine injection and found a drug that may fix the problem without reducing morphine’s pain-killing effects.
Acute itching in eczema patients linked to environmental allergens
New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that allergens in the environment often are to blame for episodes of acute itch in eczema patients, and that the itching often doesn’t respond to antihistamines because the itch signals are being carried to the brain along a previously unrecognized pathway that current drugs don’t target.
Common Protein in Skin Can ‘Turn On’ Allergic Itch
A commonly expressed protein in skin – periostin – can directly activate itch-associated neurons in the skin. Blocking periostin receptors on these neurons reduced the itch response in a mouse model of atopic dermatitis, or eczema.