Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.
Taylor Follansbee is in the Department of Neuroscience and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Xinzhong Dong is in the Department of Neuroscience and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Just the thought of wearing a woollen sweater next to your skin can bring itchy sensations to mind. But how does a mechanical stimulus, such as the touch of wool fibre, cause itch? Writing in Nature, Hill et al.1 provide an exciting step forward in our understanding of the sensation of itch evoked by touch, known as mechanical itch. PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 are ion-channel proteins that open in response to mechanical stimuli. PIEZO2 has well-characterized roles in mechanosensation, mechanical pain and sensing of movement in both mice and humans2. The authors now show in mice that Piezo1 is indispensable for mechanical itch and some forms of itch sensitization.
Get full journal access for 1 year
All prices are NET prices. VAT will be added later in the checkout. Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.
Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.
All prices are NET prices.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01571-9
Hill, R. Z., Loud, M. C., Dubin, A. E., Peet, B. & Patapoutian, A. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04860-5 (2022).
Liu, Q. et al. J. Neurosci. 32, 14532–14537 (2012).
Liu, Q. et al. Cell 139, 1353–1365 (2009).
Solinski, H. J. et al. Cell Rep. 26, 3561–3573 (2019).
Pan, H. et al. Neuron 103, 1135–1149 (2019).
Bourane, S. et al. Science 350, 550–554 (2015).
Akiyama, T. et al. J. Invest. Dermatol. 132, 1886–1891 (2012).
Usoskin, D. et al. Nature Neurosci. 18, 145–153 (2015).
Martin-Almedina, S., Mansour, S. & Ostergaard, P. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 596, 985–992 (2018).
The authors declare no competing interests.
The University of Chicago (UChicago)
Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL)
Saint Louis, MO, United States
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC)
An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday.
Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.
Nature (Nature) ISSN 1476-4687 (online) ISSN 0028-0836 (print)