{"id":13630,"date":"2026-02-23T14:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=13630"},"modified":"2026-02-23T14:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:28:21","slug":"scientists-have-discovered-a-mechanism-that-tells-us-when-to-stop-scratching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/scientists-have-discovered-a-mechanism-that-tells-us-when-to-stop-scratching\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists have discovered a mechanism that tells us when to stop scratching"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"2\">Scientists have determined why we feel relief when scratching and what compels our bodies to stop the process at a certain point. It turns out that our nervous system contains a specialized molecular channel named <b data-path-to-node=\"2\" data-index-in-node=\"214\">TRPV4<\/b>, which acts as a sort of internal signaling system.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">A new study led by <b data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"19\">Professor Roberta Gualdani<\/b> from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in Brussels has identified a so-called molecular &#8220;brake&#8221; that prompts the body to cease scratching.<\/p>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"4\">How does this mechanism work?<\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">This channel is located within the nerve cells responsible for the sense of touch. The study revealed that its primary function is to notify the brain that the scratching has been sufficient.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">Researchers observed that when this channel fails to function:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"7\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7,0,0\">The scratching process becomes significantly prolonged;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7,1,0\">The body no longer recognizes when the moment of relief has arrived;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7,2,0\">As a result, the individual (or animal) continues to irritate the skin incessantly.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"8\">Why is this research important?<\/h3>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\">Previously, it was thought that this molecule was solely a trigger for itching, leading scientists to consider blocking it entirely. However, this new discovery shows that completely deactivating it would be a mistake, as the individual would lose the ability to stop scratching.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">This discovery will help medical professionals develop more precise treatments for conditions such as <b data-path-to-node=\"10\" data-index-in-node=\"102\">eczema<\/b> and <b data-path-to-node=\"10\" data-index-in-node=\"113\">psoriasis<\/b>. The goal is to create medications that reduce the sensation of itching without damaging the natural mechanism responsible for bringing us calm.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/news-releases\/1116395\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">eurekalert<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists have determined why we feel relief when scratching and what compels our bodies to stop the process at a certain point. It turns out that our nervous system contains a specialized molecular channel named TRPV4, which acts as a sort of internal signaling system. A new study led by Professor Roberta Gualdani from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1631,1594,1587],"tags":[4492,4491],"class_list":["post-13630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-neurology","category-news","category-research","tag-mechanism","tag-scratching"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13633,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13630\/revisions\/13633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}