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Mysterious Itch Cells Found

A mysterious source of itchiness has been found. Certain nerve cells are specialized to detect itchy sensations, and those receptors don’t detect painful sensations, according to a new study.

The finding, published Dec. 23 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, helps resolve a long-standing debate over whether itchiness is just a weird form of pain. Additionally, now that they have pinpointed the responsible nerve fibers, researchers could silence those nerves to develop better anti-itch treatments, said Ethan Lerner, a neuroscientist at Harvard University who was not involved in the study.

By Tia Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer

Full Story: http://news.discovery.com/human/mysterious-itch-cells-found-121227.html

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