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Adding Capsaicin Improves Anesthetic Treatment
eldavojohn writes "It's no secret what capsaicin, the fiery molecule of peppers, does to cell walls. In fact, it's now being used to open cells up to local anesthetics. Combine it with a new drug that works only from the insides of cells and you have a great system for relieving pain. From the article, 'QX-314 is known to reduce the activity of pain-sensing neurons in the nervous system and theoretically heighten pain thresholds. But there's a catch: Researchers found that "it wouldn't work from outside a nerve cell but it would work if you could get it inside," says Bruce Bean, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the new study."
1. QX-314 blocks all neurons.
2. QX-314 only works if you can get it inside the neuron cell itself.
3. Capsaicin opens a channel on only pain neurons that will let QX-314 through.
A similar thought occurred to me when I read ths summary.
Although I took it a bit further into the apparent repetition of certain features in nature. For example, when I grew up we had jumping ants with a really nasty sting that always lived near a plant which was a perfect anditote to the sting, and stinging trees always lived near their antidote, etc.
I digress. The initial thought was that cloves make a good local anesthetic for dental problems, but they burn like hell when you first chew them until the anesthetic kicks in. I'm wondering whether the mechanism that creates the burning sensation is similar to the burning of chili and whether they too open cell walls? Anyone have any insight into this?
I don't therefore I'm not.
Sounds like a plan... except for one thing. Capsaicin come out just as hot as it goes in. Add to that the constipation that opiates cause and you are talking about an excruciating bowel movement.
Cool art gallery, if you're into that sort of thing.
Brilliant idea. "Let's turn our pharmaceuticals into weapons in the war on drugs."
Why do I have to unnecessarily swallow capsaicin everytime I take a pill? Oh, so we can make somebody else's nose sting.
That'll put a big dent in drug use.
Yeah, those "addicts" out there will do a bit for their drug of choice, but they're not going to snort some sadistically formulated pill, if that's what you're thinking.
They're just going to take whatever other prescription opiate is most available at the time. And others will just find a way around capsaicin and any other measure devised by those who'd waste their talents devising ways of preventing other people from taking pills of their own volition.
It's a war that can't be won, nor does it deserve to be. It's wrong-headed and truly hateful towards freedom.
Uh... isn't that a violation of the Hippocratic oath? And thank god booby trapping is still considered shameful and unamerican. Sheesh.
Relax I just want some peanuts.
As someone who currently has to take Oxycontin several times a day for pain management due to severe Crohn's Disease, this really would eliminate Oxycontin as a pain relief option for me; I *love love love* chilli peppers (my passion is studying Thai cooking), but when I'm flaring, there is no way that my body can tolerate them even in small quantities and they will make me violently ill. My intestines would resemble a minefield and I would have to camp out next to the bathroom, as the capsaicin would negate the pleasant, constipating side effect of the oxycodone (a huge boon for me).
There has also been a lot of talk in putting opioid antagonists in Oxycontin (i.e. naloxone or naltrexone) to negate the oxycodone's effects when people chew / smash the pills, but there are also inherent problems with this approach (it can induce immediate drug withdrawal in those with dependency, e.g. me).
I would be very surprised if there was a good chemical solution to this problem that didn't come with a host of problems of its own.