chapter 1. Itch hypotheses : from pattern to specificity and to population coding / Hermann O. Handwerker -- chapter 2. Epidemiology of itch / Elke Weisshaar and Uwe Matterne -- chapter 3. Atopic dermatitis / Ulf Darsow, Ulrike Raap, and Sonja Stander -- chapter 4. Clinical aspects of itch : psoriasis / Adam Reich and Jacek C. Szepietowski -- chapter 5. Pruritus in renal disease / Thomas Mettang -- chapter 6. Pruritus of cholestasis / Nora V. Bergasa -- chapter 7. Neuropathic itch / Anne Louise Oaklander -- chapter 8. Pruritus in cutaneous t-cell lymphomas / Laurent Misery -- chapter 9. Pruriceptors / Matthias Ringkamp and Richard Meyer -- chapter 10. Peripheral neuronal mechanism of itch : histamine and itch / Robin L. Thurmond, Kayvan Kazerouni, Sandra R. Chaplan, and Andrew J. Greenspan -- chapter 11. Role of PAR-2 in neuroimmune communication and itch / Cordula Kempkes, Joerg Buddenkotte, Ferda Cevikbas, Timo Buhl, and Martin Steinhoff -- chapter 12. Mrgprs as itch receptors / Benjamin McNeil and Xinzhong Dong -- chapter 13. Role of interleukin-31 and oncostatin m in itch and neuroimmune communication / Ferda Cevikbas, Cordula Kempkes, Timo Buhl, Christian Mess, Joerg Buddenkotte, and Martin Steinhoff -- chapter 14. Toll-like receptors and itch / Tong Liu and Ru-Rong Ji -- chapter 15. Lipid mediators and itch / Tsugunobu Andoh and Yasushi Kuraishi -- chapter 16. Role of transient receptor potential channels in acute and chronic itch / Sarah R. Wilson and Diana M. Bautista -- chapter 17. Sensitization of itch signaling : itch sensitization-nerve growth factor, semaphorins / Mitsutoshi Tominaga and Kenji Takamori -- chapter 18. Peripheral opioids / Paul L. Bigliardi and Mei Bigliardi-Qi -- chapter 19. Spinal coding of itch and pain / Tasuku Akiyama and E. Carstens -- chapter 20. Spinal microcircuits and the regulation of itch / Sarah E. Ross, Junichi Hachisuka, and Andrew J. Todd -- chapter 21. Itch modulation by VGLUT2-dependent glutamate release from somatic sensory neurons / Qiufu Ma -- chapter 22. Ascending pathways for itch / Steve Davidson, Hannah Moser, and Glenn Giesler -- chapter 23. Brain processing of itch and scratching / Hideki Mochizuki, Alexandru D.P. Papoiu, and Gil Yosipovitch -- chapter 24. Central nervous processing of itch and pain / Clemens Forster and Hermann O. Handwerker -- chapter 25. Roles of central opioid receptor subtypes in regulating itch sensation / Mei-Chuan Ko -- chapter 26. Sensitization for itch / Martin Schmelz.