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Dermatology

Cutaneous Neurophysiology

Built from Dermatology, 5th Edition

The first 25 slides of Cutaneous Neurophysiology
The first 25 slides, exactly as they appear. The full deck has 87 content slides.

What’s inside

6 sections · 87 slides

  1. 01

    Overview

    • What this topic covers
    • Itch is not just “mild pain”

    2 slides

  2. 02

    Pruritus Pathways

    How an itch signal travels from skin to spinal cord to brain

    • Sensory nerve fiber types in the skin
    • Primary afferent neurons that innervate the skin
    • Primary afferent neurons that innervate the skin (continued)
    • Two separate types of itch-carrying C fiber
    • Cowhage pods, the source of the itch-provoking spicule mucunain
    • How cowhage triggers itch
    • Three subtypes of pruriceptive C neuron
    • The spinal cord's itch relay
    • Neuroanatomy of itch: from skin to spinal cord to brain
    • Where in the brain itch is processed
    • Contagious itch and the itch-scratch cycle
    • Pruritus receptor units in the epidermis

    12 slides

  3. 03

    Mediators of Pruritus

    The chemical messengers that switch itch nerves on

    • A whole cast of chemical itch triggers
    • Histamine, the classic itch mediator
    • Gastrin-releasing peptide and B-type natriuretic peptide
    • Proteases: tryptase, kallikreins, cathepsins
    • Mast cells and protease-driven itch, close up
    • Opioid peptides and central itch
    • Substance P
    • Neurotrophins and nerve sprouting
    • Dorsal root ganglia: home of the itch-sensing neuron
    • Dorsal root ganglion: cell bodies of sensory neurons
    • Prostanoids and leukotrienes
    • TRP ion channels: the itch “thermostats”
    • TRPV1 activation and itch signal transmission
    • Other neurotransmitters and mediators
    • Immune cells talk directly to itch nerves
    • IL-31, OSMR, and a genetic itch disease
    • Relative potency of itch mediators
    • Major mediators of pruritus: relative potencies for pruritus and pain
    • Major mediators of pruritus: relative potencies for pruritus and pain (continued)
    • Mouse models confirm each mediator's role
    • Murine models of itch
    • Murine models of itch (continued)
    • Murine models of itch (continued)
    • Murine models of itch (continued)
    • How a mediator becomes an itch signal

    25 slides

  4. 04

    Chronic Itch

    Why long-standing itch behaves differently from a single episode

    • Chronic itch shares features with chronic pain
    • Peripheral sensitization in chronic itch
    • Central sensitization: alloknesis and hyperknesis
    • Chronic itch versus chronic pain
    • Comparison of characteristics of chronic itch and chronic pain
    • Comparison of characteristics of chronic itch and chronic pain (continued)
    • Mechanisms of itch sensitization in chronic pruritus
    • Itch related to a damaged skin barrier
    • Itch in older adults
    • Cholestatic pruritus

    10 slides

  5. 05

    Treatments for Pruritus

    Turning knowledge of itch mediators into working drugs

    • Why itch is harder to treat than pain
    • Topical treatments: what they target
    • Systemic treatments: what they target
    • Drug treatment of pruritus
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • Drug treatment of pruritus (continued)
    • A few more treatment notes

    26 slides

  6. 06

    Future Directions

    Where itch research is heading next

    • Where itch research is headed
    • Key takeaways
    • References
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • References (continued)
    • Dermatology, 5th Edition (2-Volume Set)

    12 slides