Cooling the Itch via TRPM8

Boyi Liu; Sven-Eric Jordt

doi:10.1016/j.jid.2018.01.020

Cooling the Itch via TRPM8

J Invest Dermatol. 2018 Jun;138(6):1254-1256. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2018.01.020.

Authors

Boyi Liu¹, Sven-Eric Jordt²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurobiology and Acupuncture Research, The Third Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China; Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
² Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Electronic address: sven.jordt@duke.edu.

Abstract

Cooling is an effective temporary remedy for itch, bringing welcome relief to itchy insect bites, nettle stings, poison ivy, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis. Menthol, causing a cooling sensation, has similar itch-relieving effects. Palkar et al. demonstrate that TRPM8, a menthol- and cold-activated ion channel, is essential for cooling to relieve itch, suggesting that pharmacologic TRPM8 activation should be explored further as an antipruritic strategy.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Comment

MeSH terms

Menthol
Neurons
TRPM Cation Channels*

Substances

TRPM Cation Channels
Menthol

Grants and funding

R21 AR070554/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/United States