Abstract

Somatosensory neurons mediate our sense of touch. They are critically involved in transducing pain and itch sensations under physiological and pathological conditions, along with other skin-resident cells. Tissue damage and inflammation can produce a localized or systemic sensitization of our senses of pain and itch, which can facilitate our detection of threats in the environment. Although acute pain and itch protect us from further damage, persistent pain and itch are debilitating. Recent exciting discoveries have significantly advanced our knowledge of the roles of membrane-bound G protein-coupled receptors and ion channels in the encoding of information leading to pain and itch sensations. This review focuses on molecular and cellular events that are important in early stages of the biological processing that culminates in our senses of pain and itch.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3201-3223
Number of pages23
JournalCellular and Molecular Life Sciences
Volume72
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 12 2015

Keywords

  • Dorsal root ganglion
  • Innate immune cells
  • Keratinocytes
  • Mas-related G-protein-coupled receptors
  • Neuropeptides
  • Transient receptor potential channels

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