Why Scratching an Itch Makes You Itch More

Why Scratching an Itch Makes You Itch More - Dr. Zhou-Feng Chen’s team explains why scratching make you itch more. You scratch an itch to cause minor pain, which prompts the brain to release serotonin to control pain. But serotonin also activates the itch receptor to carry more itch signals to the brain, making itching worse. For more information, see Zhao et al. in Neuron 84(4), http://www.cell.com/neuron/abstract/S0896-6273(14)00901-5.