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Papers of the Week


Papers: 1 May 2021 - 7 May 2021

PAIN TYPE:
Itch


2021 May 05


Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol

Pruritogenic mechanisms and gut sensation: Putting the ‘irritant’ into Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Authors

Brizuela M, Castro J, Harrington A, Brierley SM
Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2021 May 05.
PMID: 33949199.

Abstract

Chronic abdominal pain is a common clinical condition experienced by patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). A general lack of suitable treatment options for the management of visceral pain is the major contributing factor to the debilitating nature of the disease. Understanding the underlying causes of chronic visceral pain is pivotal to identifying new effective therapies for IBS. This review provides the current evidence demonstrating that mediators and receptors that induce itch in the skin also act as 'gut irritants' in the gastrointestinal tract. Activation of these receptors trigger specific changes in the neuronal excitability of sensory pathways responsible for the transmission of nociceptive information from the periphery to the central nervous system leading to visceral hypersensitivity and visceral pain. As accumulating evidence points to significant roles of these irritant mediators and their receptors in visceral hypersensitivity, they may constitute potential targets for the development of more effective therapeutic options for IBS.