痒感多由蚊虫叮咬、过敏等引发的局部炎症产生，通过细直径慢神经元经脊髓丘脑束传导至大脑。而皮肤中的机械感受器能感知触摸和震动，其信号通过粗直径快神经元经背柱传导。脊髓内两类神经元通过中间神经元交联，触摸信号会激活抑制痒感传导的神经元，这就是 “闸门理论”—— 触摸能 “关闭” 痒感通道。此外，触摸刺激大脑深层结构会反向抑制痒感传递，功能性磁共振成像研究还显示，挠痒能激活大脑奖励中枢，带来愉悦感。

Medical science has deciphered many of the body’s workings, down to the level of the gene, and isn’t too far from using stem cells to repair its hobbled organs. But in many ways, the human body ...

What’s common between a scratchy sweater, a mosquito bite, and poison ivy? A brush with any of them guarantees an itchy spot on the skin. Scratching that itch is extremely tempting because of how ...

Do you feel an itch, right now, working its way down the back of your neck? Scratching temporarily relieves that itch, but can also make it worse. Now researchers at the Center for the Study of Itch ...

The itch from bug bites, rashes, and other skin conditions can sometimes be so overpowering that it feels impossible to avoid scratching them. But new research explains why you might want to hold off ...

Researchers might have finally scratched below the surface of this medical mystery. Itchiness is a common symptom of various skin conditions, but why that is has long been unclear — until now. A new ...

A new study conducted in mice suggests that, although it's not all good, our urge to scratch at itchy skin may have an evolutionary benefit. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an ...

I remember it well: our dark winter of itch when the kids were small. It started with a note sent home—years before the pandemic—that my child had been exposed, not to a deadly virus but to lice.

A friend’s four year old daughter recently complained to me about how badly her mosquito bite itched. She was about to burst into tears. The fact that an uncomfortable itchy sensation can drive many ...

Journalist Annie Lowrey has a rare disease that causes a near-constant itch that doesn't respond to most treatments. She likens the itchiness to a... Chronic itch is miserable. Scientists are just ...