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Some like it hot: spicing up ion channels

Nature volume 389, pages 783–784 (1997)Cite this article

Capsaicin is the molecule that makes chilli peppers seem hot, and the receptor for this compound has now been identified. The receptor is also activated by increased temperature, indicating that it transduces painful thermal stimuli in vivo.

I bit into the little piece of red vegetable, mischievously hidden under the grains of rice, and a fire exploded in my mouth. Instinctively, I put my hand over my mouth and unwittingly spread the fire to my eye. I then tried to douse the fire with water, only to have it spread around my whole mouth. I broke into a sweat ⃛ This sequence of petty disasters is repeated daily by hot-food novices eating at Mexican, Indian, Chinese, Indonesian and other restaurants serving cuisine from the tropical belt. Two questions come to mind. First, how do hot spices do this to our nervous system? Second, why do we do this to ourselves (after all, the menu said it was hot)?

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Figure 1: Hot peppers and painful heat both activate sensory nerve fibres through an ion channel discovered by David Julius and colleagues1.

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  1. the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Childrens Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 320 Longwood Avenue, Boston, 02115, Massachusetts, USA

    David E. Clapham

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  1. David E. Clapham
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Clapham, D. Some like it hot: spicing up ion channels. Nature 389, 783–784 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/39724

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