ArticleMolecular pain2014
Itch-associated peptides: RNA-Seq and bioinformatic analysis of natriuretic precursor peptide B and gastrin releasing peptide in dorsal root and trigeminal ganglia, and the spinal cord.
Article in Molecular pain, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Substance P and somatostatin neurons limit facial itch by recruiting distinct nociceptive circuits in the brainstem.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Spinal and supraspinal mechanisms of chronic itch: from neuronal circuits to the neuro-immune-microbial axis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Review
- Article
- Distinct Neural Mechanisms in the Propagation of Itch in the Face and Body.Research square · 2025Article
- Molecular Anatomy of Synaptic and Extrasynaptic Neurotransmission Between Nociceptive Primary Afferents and Spinal Dorsal Horn Neurons.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Circulating MicroRNA Biomarkers for Chronic Pain and Acupuncture Response: An Exploratory High-Dimensional Small-Sample Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- A neuropeptide code for itch.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2021Review
- Mechanisms Underlying the Selective Therapeutic Efficacy of Carbamazepine for Attenuation of Trigeminal Nerve Injury Pain.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2021Article
- Longitudinal peripheral tissue RNA-Seq transcriptomic profiling, hyperalgesia, and wound healing in the rat plantar surgical incision model.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2021Article
- Expression of green fluorescent protein defines a specific population of lamina II excitatory interneurons in the GRP::eGFP mouse.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Article
- GRP receptor and AMPA receptor cooperatively regulate itch-responsive neurons in the spinal dorsal horn.Neuropharmacology · 2020Article
- A transcriptomic analysis of Nsmce1 overexpression in mouse hippocampal neuronal cell by RNA sequencing.Functional & integrative genomics · 2020Article
- Interventions in the B-type natriuretic peptide signalling pathway as a means of controlling chronic itch.British journal of pharmacology · 2020Review
- Comparative Analysis of Dorsal Root, Nodose and Sympathetic Ganglia for the Development of New Analgesics.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2020Article
- Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia Is Associated with Dysregulation of Circadian Rhythm and Adaptive Immune Pathways in the Mouse Trigeminal Ganglia and Nucleus Accumbens.Molecular neurobiology · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThree neuropeptides, gastrin releasing peptide (GRP), natriuritic precursor peptide B (NPPB), and neuromedin B (NMB) have been proposed to play roles in itch sensation. However, the tissues in which these peptides are expressed and their positions in the itch circuit has recently become the subject of debate. Here we used next-gen RNA-Seq to examine the expression of transcripts coding for GRP, NPPB, NMB, and other peptides in DRG, trigeminal ganglion, and the spinal cord as well as expression levels for their cognate receptors in these tissues.
resultsRNA-Seq demonstrates that GRP is not transcribed in mouse, rat, or human sensory ganglia. NPPB, which activates natriuretic peptide receptor 1 (NPR1), is well expressed in mouse DRG and less so in rat and human, whereas NPPA, which also acts on the NPR1 receptor, is expressed in all three species. Analysis of transcripts expressed in the spinal cord of mouse, rat, and human reveals no expression of Nppb, but unambiguously detects expression of Grp and the GRP-receptor (Grpr). The transcripts coding for NMB and tachykinin peptides are among the most highly expressed in DRG. Bioinformatics comparisons using the sequence of the peptides used to produce GRP-antibodies with proteome databases revealed that the C-terminal primary sequence of NMB and Substance P can potentially account for results from previous studies which showed GRP-immunostaining in the DRG.
conclusionsRNA-Seq corroborates a primary itch afferent role for NPPB in mouse and potentially NPPB and NPPA in rats and humans, but does not support GRP as a primary itch neurotransmitter in mouse, rat, or humans. As such, our results are at odds with the initial proposal of Sun and Chen (2007) that GRP is expressed in DRG. By contrast, our data strongly support an itch pathway where the itch-inducing actions of GRP are exerted through its release from spinal cord neurons.
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