Hot, Hot, Hot: Peppers and spiders reach same pain receptor
The burn of hot peppers and the searing pain of a spider bite may have a common cause. New research suggests that molecules in hot peppers and in a certain spider’s venom target the same receptor on nerve cells.
Several years ago, scientists identified a channel on neurons that’s opened by capsaicin, the molecule responsible for peppers’ burn. Follow-up research showed that this channel is a member of a family of cell-surface receptors that sense both chemicals and temperature. When these channels are activated, ions flood into nerve cells and cause them to fire.