Astrocytes in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex are Differentially Engaged in Itch and Pain

two-photon calcium imaging to investigate the functional dynamics of S1 astrocytes in awake mice subjected to acute itch and pain stimuli, induced by 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and capsaicin (CAP), respectively. Our imaging results showed that S1 astrocytes exhibited different patterns of calcium activity in response to itch- and pain-related stimuli. Furthermore, using astrocyte-targeted genetic and chemogenetic manipulations, we found that suppression of astrocytic calcium signaling using CalEx was associated with reduced pain-related behaviors, whereas chemogenetic activation of astrocytes tended to reduce itch-related behaviors. Taken together, these findings suggest that S1 astrocytes may respond differently to itch- and pain-related states and potentially contribute to their modulation in cortical sensory processing.