Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2012:98:253-65.
doi: 10.1159/000336529. Epub 2012 Jun 26.

Itch and the brain

F Pfab  1 , M Valet, V Napadow, T-R Tölle, H Behrendt, J Ring, U Darsow
Affiliations
Review

Itch and the brain

F Pfab et al. Chem Immunol Allergy. 2012.

Abstract

The sensation of itch - defined as unpleasant sensation inducing the urge to scratch - is processed by a network of different brain regions contributing to the encoding of sensory, emotional, attention-dependent, cognitive-evaluative and motivational patterns. Patients with atopic eczema show different activation patterns and kinetics compared to healthy volunteers. This review summarizes current studies investigating itch in the brain.

PubMed Disclaimer