Anatomy Shared Article Research

This blog exists for the Anatomy students at Tree of Life Christian School. We will be reading various scientific articles, summarizing our research, and then commenting on others' summaries. We hope to broaden our view of the current research surrounding the human body, and to help others see how truly amazing the design of the human body is.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Chili Pepper Cocktail Blunts Pain

http://scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?articleID=674E972E-E7F2-99DF-39A3406D0D2B2A7C&chanID=sa022

A Harvard medical study shows that a key ingredient in chili peppers, along with a small amount of an anesthetic , could be perfect for ending pain during any type of surgery without the potentially dangerous side effects of "straight" anesthesia.

The reasearchers say a combination of capsaicin ( the thing that gives chili peppers their bite)and an anesthetic used by dentists that relieves inflammed, itchy skin, numbs the pain-sensing nerve cells without interrupting the other nuerons that are controlling other functions in your body. There is only one problem: they found that it won't work unless you get the "cocktail" inside of the nerve cells.

A physiology prfessor, David Julius, discovered that capsiacin binds selectively to a protein that lives on the membranes of the pain-sensing nuerons. When capsaicin binds to these proteins (called TRVP1) it causes the protein to "open" and lead to a small channel in the membrane (the nuerons not-containing TRVP1 are not affected). They also believe the anesthetic molecule (QX-314) will be small enough to go through the channel. If this is true, injecting the capsiacin first should clear the way, opening the channel for the QX-314 to come in and shut the cells down.

The researchers working on this theory tested it using nerve cells from rat's spinal cords placed in a petri dish. They found that electrical activity in the pain-sensing nerve cells dipped after injections of the capsiacin followed by the anesthetic. This shows that the cells would be too weak to send messages to the brain. They then did two more experimants, yet again, using rats. In one, they injected the "cocktail" into the rat's paws and placed them on heated surfaces until the rats felt pain. All of the rats in this test were numb even to the highest level of heat they were exposed to. In the second test, they injected it into the rat's sciatic nerves (the nerves in charge of the sensations in the lower back and extremities). Then they poked the rats with nylon probes at varied strengths to which half of them didn't react to even the strongest jab.

A potential side effect of regular anesthesia- temporary paralysis- wasn't experienced among any of the rats in either experiment, which indicates that the "cocktail" worked and only targeted the pain-sensing nerves. The injection also seemed to last an average of up to four hours.

Although this seems to be a major breakthrough there is still one thing that needs to be overcome; the burning sensation of the capsaicin. If the QX compound silences the nerve fast enough then it should work quite well, without very much irritation. There are scientists currently working on how to eliminate this negative effect by reversing the order of the substances. The team is also trying to look for another substance that is similar to the capsiacin to replace it without having the irritating side effects.

Review

This discovery could be a very successful breakthrough to reduce the risks and possible side effects of regular anesthesia. Though, if they do not find a proper substitute for the capsiacin it could be useless because then there would be another side effect that was created. This is the one element, I believe, that is holding this discovery back.

4 Comments:

Blogger Alexandra S said...

I think it's great that researchers are looking for a safer way to dull pain. It can be frightening to have a loved one go into surgery and it would relieve some of the worry to know that the anesthetic was safe. If they can get rid of the burning sensation this is going to be a great discovery.

Thursday, October 18, 2007 4:30:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think it is cool that researchers have found what they needed in a chili pepper. God is always leaving cool things for us to find and discover. I thought it was interesting how the researchers had to think about the size of the anesthetic molecule and if it was small enough to fit into the cell. I usually don't think about in relation to molecules fitting through a channel.

Thursday, October 18, 2007 4:41:00 PM  
Blogger Kelsvicious! said...

This article is crazy! In a good way. It absolutely amazes me that God could use a chili pepper for a huge reason like this! Never in a million years would I have thought that something, I eat as simple as a chili pepper, could be used to dull pain. I think this is a great discovery and I deffinatly agree that it will be very useful, if they could just find something for the burning sensation.

Thursday, October 18, 2007 4:57:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This was a pretty cool article to read. It shows there is a use for everything, look at God doing big things with little chili peppers! Im proud. The only thing is that we need to find a way to cure the burning that occurs. I also wonder if the chili peppers actually burn the pain nerves because it is something that is hot, but I am assuming not because it would have been documented. Sweet article!

Thursday, October 18, 2007 5:08:00 PM  

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