ePillz.com - Red Hot Chili Pepper May Become a “Holy Grail” in Pain Management

Red Hot Chili Pepper May Become a “Holy Grail” in Pain Management

October 3, 2007

- National Institutes of Health –

The combination of capsaicin, substance found in red hot chili pepper, and a lidocaine derivative QX-314 may start a new line of pain relievers which can selectively block pain without disrupting other body sensations and motor functions. This is the finding of the investigation, conducted by the scientists from the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School with the support from the National Institutes of Health.

The investigators say that the combination of capsaicin with QX-314 shows the way how to improve the current state of pain relief or anesthesia, commonly used during surgery, childbirth or dental operations. It is known that all the available anesthetics block pain-sensing neurons together with all the other types of neurons, which are responsible for alertness, movement, etc. That is why, numbness, paralysis and other nervous system adverse reactions are common consequences of blocking pain with the anesthetics available these days.

With capsaicin the scientists found the way of delivering pain relieving agent QX-314 exclusively into the pain-sensing neurons without affecting other nerve cells. The point is that neurons responsible for transmitting pain signals have specific pores in their membranes, called TRPV1 channels. No other neurons have such pores.

Consequently, the scientists decided to use these channels as the doorways for delivering pain relieving agent QX-314 right into the pain-sensing neuron cells and blocking their electric activity, which causes pain sensations. Capsaicin here works as the key to open those TRPV1 channels and let the QX-314 inside the cell.

The results of the finding were tested on rats. Scientists injected the substance containing capsaicin and QX-314 into the paws of the animals and discovered that the rats treated with the new pain reliever could tolerate much more heat that usual. Furthermore the animals did not change their usual behavior even when the scientists pricked their hind paws with nylon probes.

Those tests proved the suggestion of the scientists that capsaicin with QX-314 can effectively block the pain sensations without affecting other functions of the organism. What is also of great interest about the research is that it took only 30 minutes for the new drug combination to start working, and the pain relieving action continued up to several hours.

"The Holy Grail in pain science is to eliminate pathologic pain without impairing thinking, alertness, coordination, or other vital functions of the nervous system,” says Story C. Landis, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. With the result of capsaicin research the scientists seem to find the substance which can potentially become that Holy Grail. “This finding shows that a specific combination of two molecules can block only pain-related neurons. It holds the promise of major future breakthroughs for the millions of persons who suffer with disabling pain."

It should be noted that red hot chili pepper or cayenne pepper have always been used in complementary medicine for reducing arthritis and migraine types of pain. Though the exact mode of action of cayenne was not known, the herbalists identified capsaicin as the main pain relieving agent in red hot chili pepper.

In case the results of the research will be further proved and tested in human, this may become the beginning of a new line of anesthetics, which will become a significantly better option not only for relieving pain during childbirth, surgery and dental procedures, but also for chronic pain management.

Nick

External resources
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=84320
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct2007/ninds-03.htm
http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/news/ng.asp?n=80344-harvard-medical-scho...