Anti-Itch Treatments: Do They Work?

Prevalence and predictors of psychosocial morbidity in patients with chronic pruritic skin diseases

“…In one study, 29% of a population of non-institutionalized people older than 50 years suffered from itch. 12 Surprisingly little is known about how itch affects patients in daily life, 13 but what evidence there is suggests that itch causes patients considerable distress and affects their quality of life. 8,11,14 Sleep disturbances related to itching are very prevalent, with 66-84% of patients with AD or psoriasis reporting difficulties in falling asleep or waking during the night.…”

A new analytical system for quantification scratching behaviour in mice

“…It has been suggested that IgE‐mediated mast cell activation and subsequent release of chemical mediators, such as histamine, prostaglandin and leukotrienes may contribute to the pathogenesis of atopic diseases 1–4 . Until now no effective antipruritic has been developed which inhibits the pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis 5,6 . There is a need for a practical and reliable system of quantifying scratching behaviour.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] Until now no effective antipruritic has been developed which inhibits the pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis. 5,6 There is a need for a practical and reliable system of quantifying scratching behaviour. Scratching can be evoked using pruritogenic agents administered intrad-ermally to the back in mice; 7 these agents have previously been used to evaluate the antipruritic action of new drugs.…”

Antipruriginöse Therapie beim atopischen Ekzem

“…Unterschiedliche pruritogene Auslöser (Polymodalität des Pruritus) stimulieren eine Subpopulation der peripheren Rezeptoren langsam leitender, unmyelinisierter Nervenfasern (C-Fasern, Nozirezeptoren), die an der dermoepidermalen Grenzzone lokalisiert sind [38]. Nach Umschaltung im Hinterhorn wird der Juckreiz über den anterolateralen Trakt des Rückenmarks zum Tractus spinothalamicus und Thalamus und schließ-lich zur sensomotorischen Hirnrinde geleitet [28]. Ein spezifisches Juckreizzentrum wurde bisher nicht gefunden [19].…”

“…Serotonin, Interleukin-2, ebenso wie das Neuropeptid Substanz P, die E-Prostaglandine (v. a. E2) und Acetylcholin haben sich ebenfalls als pruritogen erwiesen [18,28,29,34,50,67,79,81]. Ein impetiginisiertes AE soll über die Proteasen der Staphylokken den Juckreiz verstärken [46].Auf welche Weise die toxischen basischen Proteine der eosinophilen Granulozyten bei der Auslösung des Juckreizes beteiligt sind, ist unklar [63].…”