Feel the Burn: Alcohol sets pain-sensing nerves aflame
By John Travis
A splash of aftershave stings the face. A shot of whiskey shocks the throat. A swab of antiseptic on a raw wound causes a person to wince.
Scientists now appear to have found the common thread among these sensations: Alcohol makes certain pain-generating nerves trigger more easily than normal. In some cases, it tricks the nerves into behaving as if they are exposed to extreme heat. Suddenly, alcohol’s nickname, firewater, has become especially apropos.
The new findings, reported in an upcoming Nature Neuroscience, emerge from research led by John B. Davis of GlaxoSmithKline in Harlow, England, and Peirangelo Geppetti of the University of Ferrara in Italy. The scientists focused on ethanol, the world’s favorite form of alcohol, and its influence on a protein called the vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1). This receptor, which sits on the surface of some sensory nerve cells, first drew public attention when researchers learned that it responds to both high temperatures and capsaicin, the substance that makes certain peppers taste hot (SN: 11/8/97, p. 297).