Recent Progress in Unraveling Central Nervous System Processing of Itch Sensation

World Allergy Organization Journal

Ulf Darsow²  Johannes Ring¹  Heidrun Behrendt²  Thomas Tölle³  Michael Valet³  Florian Pfab² 

[1] Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Technische Universität München, Technische Universität München, Biedersteiner Strasse 29, 80802 Munich, Germany;Division of Environmental Dermatology and Allergy, Helmholtz Zentrum München/TUM, ZAUM-Center for Allergy and Environment, Technische Universität München, Biedersteiner Strasse 29, 80802 Munich, Germany;Department of Neurology, Klinikum r.d. Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

关键词: histamine;    neuroimaging;    cerebral processing;    itch;   

Others  :  824473
DOI  :  10.1097/WOX.0b013e318187ff70

 received in 2008-03-27, accepted in 2008-07-24,  发布年份 2008

【 摘 要 】

Itch is the major symptom of many allergic or inflammatory skin diseases, yet it is still difficult to measure objectively. This article shows and updates the development and approaches of central nervous system investigation of itch.

Human neuroimaging studies on the physiology and pathophysiology of itch sensation have been hampered by the lack of a reproducible "on-off" stimulus. Short-term alternating temperature modulation of histamine-induced itch has recently been shown to provide on-off characteristics.

Recent studies with functional magnetic resonance imaging demonstrate that itch sensation in healthy volunteers is processed by a network of brain regions contributing to the encoding of sensory, emotional, attentional, evaluative, and motivational aspects of itch.

【 授权许可】

   
2008 World Allergy Organization; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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Figure 2.

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