They say “it is good for envy”; But realistically speaking, a new study suggests that scratching even helps to strengthen our immunity defenses.
Scratching is a paradoxical phenomenon. Both from the perspective that it can be pleasant or nails over a piece of skin with itch; so much of the prism that our parents say not to do so.
After all, we should not guide for them. In a study this Friday at Science, science suggests that, after all, scratching a itching increases the defense of our body against bacteria.
As it writes, the fact that we scratch ourselves that there is a evolutionary reason to enjoy doing so.
However, this habit can also aggravate eczema and the rashes or reopen a wound.
To deepen this dichotomy, a group of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, used allergens called Haptenos to induce eczema similar symptoms in mice ears.
The ears of the mice that could scratch at ease swelling more and contained more inflammatory cells called neutrophils – which help our body fight infections – than those who used a collar that prevented them from reaching the ears.
That is, it seems easy to conclude that scratching is harmful… only not.
To see how this scratching affected the skin, the researchers went to the heart of the issue analyzed what was happening in the interior of cells.
As the New Scientist details, it was found that Ooçar made the neurons that detected the pain release a chemist known as substance pwhich then activated the white blood cells called mastocites, encouraging the body to make more neutrophils.
“This shows that The act of scratching is really important to increase the behavior of mastocytes, ”he says to the same magazine Holly Wilkinsonfrom the University of Hull, in the United Kingdom, which did not participate in the study.
The new study also found that the act of scratching reduced the amount of Staphylococcus aureus – Bacteria usually involved in skin infections – in the skin of the rats. This microbe can trigger a large inflammation of the skin, which manifests itself as dermatitis.
“Be an entire day to scratch is enough to change the microbiome Mensurably, ”explained investigation leader Dan Kaplan.
“Not always or ever”
However, the investigators also admitted to activating the mastocytes, the allergen It can also trigger a road that incited inflammationshowing that under conditions such as eczema, the body is effectively receiving a Double dose of skin inflammation.
In such cases, scratching will probably lead to an increase in damage.
“If we are healthy and scratch, it’s a good thing. But there is a point of inflection and if we scratch too much, it can become a negative thing, ”confirmed expert Holly Wilkinson.
