Journal Club 2021.06.04

MrgprC11+ sensory neurons mediate glabrous skin itch

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Apr 13;118(15):e2022874118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2022874118.

Haley R. Steele, Yanyan Xinga, Yuyan Zhu, Henry B. Hilley, Katy Lawson, Yeseul Nho, Taylor Niehoff, and Liang Hana

School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332
Edited by Jeremy Nathans, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, and approved March 2, 2021 (received for review November 2, 2020)

Itch arising from glabrous skin (palms and soles) has attracted limited attention within the field due to the lack of methodology. This is despite glabrous itch arising from many medical conditions such as plantar and palmar psoriasis, dyshidrosis, and cholestasis. Therefore, we developed a mouse glabrous skin behavioral assay to investigate the contribution of three previously identified pruriceptive neurons in glabrous skin itch. Our results show that MrgprA3+ and MrgprD+ neurons, although key mediators for hairy skin itch, do not play important roles in glabrous skin itch, dem- onstrating a mechanistic difference in itch sensation between hairy and glabrous skin. We found that MrgprC11+ neurons are the major mediators for glabrous skin itch. Activation of MrgprC11+ neurons induced glabrous skin itch, while ablation of MrgprC11+ neurons reduced both acute and chronic glabrous skin itch. Our study provides insights into the mechanisms of itch and opens up new avenues for future glabrous skin itch research.