Figure 5
From: Social interactions and olfactory cues are required for contagious itch in mice
Activated brain regions in contagious scratching behavior. (A–F) Western blot depicting c-Fos protein expression in various brain regions of observer mice after physical (PE) and non-physical encounters (NPE) with scratching demonstrators, as well as anosmic observers exposed to adjacent itch demonstrators (n = 4). (G) Illustration representing the findings of our experiment. The contagious itch can be seen in mice models of the same sex, age, strain, and home cage while the olfactory system is intact, and the physical encounter is not restrained. This behavior is strengthened in mice with previous itch exposure and originates from empathetic behaviors. The olfactory bulb (containing the main olfactory bulb (MOB) and the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB)), hippocampus (HPC), thalamus (TH), amygdala (AG), and hypothalamus (HTH) are involved in the signal transmission of contagious itch behavior. Created with BioRender.com.
