health study, itch

A new health study reinforces what we already know about an itch, if you scratch it this will only make you itch worse as a result. This means that the old advice your mom used to give you was right. The health study was performed by Washington University researchers who studied what happens in the brain when you scratch your skin. When this happens then more serotonin is released into the brain of the individual, and this will increase the sensation of itching. The health study researchers used two types of mice in their clinical trials, and one of these mice types were bred specially so that they were missing the gene used in the body to produce serotonin. Both sets of mice were injected with a substance that results in itching.

The genetically altered mice did not scratch as much as those who were not missing certain genes. When the genetically deficient mice were injected with serotonin then their amount and intensity of scratching increased to what was seen in the unaltered mice, leading researchers to the health study conclusion on the common itch. Zhou-Feng Chen, one of the researchers who performed the health study, stated “Our findings suggest that the events happen in this order: First, you scratch, and that causes a sensation of pain. Then you make more serotonin to control the pain. But serotonin does more than only inhibit pain. Our new finding shows that it also makes itch worse.” The next time you feel an itch don’t scratch it or you will only make things worse.