A central neural circuit for itch sensation
A central neural circuit for itch sensation
复制标题
瘙痒感的中枢神经回路。
DOI：
10.1126/science.aaf4918
复制
发表时间：
2017-08-18
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Sun, Yan-Gang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mu, Di;Deng, Juan;Sun, Yan-Gang
虽然瘙痒是动物的一种重要的保护机制，但慢性瘙痒仍然是一个具有挑战性的临床问题。瘙痒的处理已经在脊柱水平得到了广泛的研究。然而，瘙痒信息是如何传递到大脑的，以及瘙痒诱导的抓挠行为背后的中央回路在很大程度上仍然是未知的。我们发现，脊臂臂通路在瘙痒过程中被激活，该通路的光遗传抑制削弱了瘙痒诱导的抓挠行为。瘙痒介导的脊髓神经元表达胃泌素释放肽受体，通过谷氨酸能脊髓投射神经元与臂旁核双突触连接。阻断臂旁核谷氨酸能神经元的突触输出可抑制瘙痒原诱导的抓挠行为。因此，我们的研究揭示了一种对瘙痒信号处理至关重要的中枢神经回路。
Although itch sensation is an important protective mechanism for animals, chronic itch remains a challenging clinical problem. Itch processing has been studied extensively at the spinal level. However, how itch information is transmitted to the brain and what central circuits underlie the itch-induced scratching behavior remain largely unknown. We found that the spinoparabrachial pathway was activated during itch processing and that optogenetic suppression of this pathway impaired itch-induced scratching behaviors. Itch-mediating spinal neurons, which express the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor, are disynaptically connected to the parabrachial nucleus via glutamatergic spinal projection neurons. Blockade of synaptic output of glutamatergic neurons in the parabrachial nucleus suppressed pruritogen-induced scratching behavior. Thus, our studies reveal a central neural circuit that is critical for itch signal processing.