(264) AMPA glutamate receptors containing the GluA4 subunit are expressed in epidermal keratinocytes and may be involved in chronic itch and painful peripheral neuropathies

Abstract

Epidermal keratinocytes express numerous neurosignaling molecules that were only thought to regulate cell differentiation prior to the discovery of extensive intraepidermal innervation by c- and Aδ-fibers implicated in thermal, pain, and itch sensation. Immunocytochemical and pharmacological evidence indicates that excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms are expressed in differentially stratified epidermal patterns indicating that they may transduce or modulate tactile stimuli including those implicated in pain.