Nature Neuroscience 9, 628 - 635 (2006)
Published online: 16 April 2006; | doi:10.1038/nn1692
Oregano, thyme and clove-derived flavors and skin sensitizers activate specific TRP channelsHaoxing Xu1, 2, 3, Markus Delling1, 2, 3, 4, Janice C Jun1, 2, 3, 4
& David E Clapham1, 2, 31
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, 320 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. 2
Department of Cardiology, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 320 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. 3
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, 320 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. 4
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence should be addressed to David E Clapham dclapham@enders.tch.harvard.edu Carvacrol, eugenol and thymol are major components of plants such as oregano, savory, clove and thyme. When applied to the tongue, these flavors elicit a warm sensation. They are also known to be skin sensitizers and allergens. The transient receptor potential channel (TRPV3) is a warm-sensitive Ca2+-permeable cation channel highly expressed in the skin, tongue and nose. Here we show that TRPV3 is strongly activated and sensitized by carvacrol, thymol and eugenol. Tongue and skin epithelial cells respond to carvacrol and eugenol with an increase in intracellular Ca2+ levels. We also show that this TRPV3 activity is strongly potentiated by phospholipase C–linked, G protein–coupled receptor stimulation. In addition, carvacrol activates and rapidly desensitizes TRPA1, which may explain the pungency of oregano. Our results support a role for temperature-sensitive TRP channels in chemesthesis in oral and nasal epithelium and suggest that TRPV3 may be a molecular target of plant-derived skin sensitizers.
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