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Tarantula Venom and Chili Peppers Share Receptor
FiReaNGeL writes "Scientists have discovered that venom from a West Indian tarantula has been shown to cause pain by exciting the same nerve cells in mice that sense high temperatures and the hot, spicy ingredient in chili peppers. The findings demonstrate that some plants and animals have evolved the same molecular strategy to deter predators — triggering pain by activating a specific receptor on sensory nerves. The research provides new tools to understand how these pain- and heat-sensing neurons work, and to help develop drugs that ease persistent pain."
Eating hot chillies is knowen to relese endorphins, which is why they feel good to eat. Does this mean that people will be poisening themselvs with tarantulas to get a high?
The active ingredient in chili peppers has been used as a topical pain relief treatment for ages, you can buy it over the counter. It's also the active ingredient in that self-defense pepper spray. The more you know...
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A biochemist friend of mine was telling me about some of his prospective research projects some time ago. It turns out that the receptor for capsacsin and for high temperature are one and the same, and what's unusual about these receptors is that they are not on the cell surface where most receptors are, but within the cell. This explains why it takes a little while for hot peppers to give you that tingle, and why it takes a while for it to go away, btw.
You can easily test that. Get yourself a bottle of original Russian "Pertsovka". It is a type of vodka, which has been left to stay above chilies. The drink has a reddish brown hue which depending on your level of capsacine addiction signifies either instant death or ultimate pleasure (or one through the other).
It is the closest thing in the real world to the Pangalactic Gargle Blaster. You definitely feel like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. In small quantities it is like getting them smashed with a "mere" hammer.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
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From what I've read, capsaicin works by altering the temperature set point for nerves. Sort of like messing up the calibration to temperature. The temperature that causes a burning sensation is lowered to below body temperature. Which also explains why cold drinks tend to help. On a related note, wintergreen oil (and related chemicals) do the opposite: set the cold sense higher. Apparently both work on the same pathway.
Which makes me curious if anyone has combined chile with wintergreen and what happened.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Here's the source, not a (plagiarising?) blog.7 2/
http://pub.ucsf.edu/newsservices/releases/2006110
It may seem odd that capsaicin, a pain-causing compund, can relieve pain. Based on research, it appears that the receptors targetted by capsaicin can eventually become "fatigued", and stop responding, thus easing pain in the case of arthritis or shingles. A doctor friend of mine told me he was once involved in capsaicin pain-relief research. According to him, they injected several rabbits with a relatively pure capsaicin extract. The rabbits writhed in agony for an entire night, but the next day seemed calm and normal. They were put through a battery of tests, and to the incredulity of the researchers, they didn't respond to any pain stimulus whatsoever. It was (he said) as though they'd been completely and permanently anesthetised. In effect, they had "burned out" the capsaicin receptors of the rabbits.