Journal club 2013-01-14

Mechanisms of Itch Evoked by ß-Alanine

Dong

Qin Liu,1,2 Parul Sikand,3 Chao Ma,3 Zongxiang Tang,1,2 Liang Han,1 Zhe Li,1 Shuohao Sun,1 Robert H. LaMotte,3
and Xinzhong Dong1,2
1The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Center for Sensory Biology, and 2Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, and 3Department of Anesthesiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520

ß-alanine, a popular supplement for muscle building, induces itch and tingling after consumption, but the underlying molecular and neural mechanisms are obscure. Here we show that, in mice,