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HOT PEPPERS AND HOT BOTHS CREATE BURNING FEELING VIA THE SAME MOLECULE, PROVIDING INSIGHT INTO PAIN, UCSF RESEARCHERS FIND - IMAGE #1

A high dose of the chili pepper ingredient, capsaicin, kills or damages cells with a cell-surface receptor called the vanilloid receptor. The damage or death of pain-sensing nerve cells may explain the numbing, anesthetic quality of capsaicin.

The image on the left shows healthy cells growing in laboratory culture before exposure to capsaicin. After exposure to capsaicin, the cells, as can seen in the image on the right, are damaged or dead.

The studies were conducted by researchers at the University of California San Francisco led by David Julius, PhD, and Michael J. Caterina, MD, PhD. (Credit: NATURE)

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