I`ve been playing with recipes for a good long time, so I decided to go back to looking how the capsaicin - capsaicin receptor interaction works. I found this paper, below, among others.
What it says, basically, is that the binding of capsaicin to the receptor in pH dependent. Binding is both stronger and more active at low pH. Your stomach is roughly pH 1-2, so very very acid.
I wondered what would happen if you rapidly changed the pH of the stomach contents to a more alkaline environment and neutralized the protons. What I did is the simplest experiment in the world. I ate a couple of superhots and waited for the stomach cramps to kick in. Then I drank a glass full of Sodium bicarbonate solution. Astonishingly, the cramps went away inside 5 minutes, never to return.
So far, 3 people have tried this and it has worked each time.
What`s the recipe? 2 tablespoons of Baking Soda in 8oz of water. That`s it. If the cramps do not go away, repeat. If you have indigestion or reflux, you have a lot more acid than usual, so it may take more to neutralize the acid.
Please let me know if you try this and it works, or it does`t work.
J Gen Physiol. 2003 Jul;122(1):45-61.
Low pH potentiates both capsaicin binding and channel gating of VR1 receptors.
Ryu S[SIZE=.8461em]1[/SIZE], Liu B, Qin F.
Author information
Abstract
Capsaicin ion channels are highly expressed in peripheral nervous terminals and involved in pain and thermal sensations. One characteristic of the cloned VR1 receptor is its multimodal responses to various types of noxious stimuli. The channel is independently activated by capsaicin and related vanilloids at submicromolar range, by heat above 40 degrees C, and by protons at pH below 6.5. Furthermore, simultaneous applications of two or more stimuli lead to cross sensitization of the receptor, with an apparent increase in the sensitivity to any individual stimulus when applied alone. We studied here the mechanism underlying such cross-sensitization; in particular, between capsaicin and pH, two prototypical stimuli for the channel. By analyzing single-channel currents recorded from excised-patches expressing single recombinant VR1 receptors, we examined the effect of pH on burst properties of capsaicin activation at low concentrations and the effect on gating kinetics at high concentrations. Our results indicate that pH has dual effects on both capsaicin binding and channel gating. Lowering pH enhances the apparent binding affinity of capsaicin, promotes the occurrences of long openings and short closures, and stabilizes at least one of the open conformations of the channel. Our data also demonstrate that capsaicin binding and protonation of the receptor interact allosterically, where the effect of one can be offset by the effect of the other. These results provide important basis to further understand the nature of the activation pathways of the channel evoked by different stimuli as well as the general mechanism underling the cross-sensitization of pain.
What it says, basically, is that the binding of capsaicin to the receptor in pH dependent. Binding is both stronger and more active at low pH. Your stomach is roughly pH 1-2, so very very acid.
I wondered what would happen if you rapidly changed the pH of the stomach contents to a more alkaline environment and neutralized the protons. What I did is the simplest experiment in the world. I ate a couple of superhots and waited for the stomach cramps to kick in. Then I drank a glass full of Sodium bicarbonate solution. Astonishingly, the cramps went away inside 5 minutes, never to return.
So far, 3 people have tried this and it has worked each time.
What`s the recipe? 2 tablespoons of Baking Soda in 8oz of water. That`s it. If the cramps do not go away, repeat. If you have indigestion or reflux, you have a lot more acid than usual, so it may take more to neutralize the acid.
Please let me know if you try this and it works, or it does`t work.
J Gen Physiol. 2003 Jul;122(1):45-61.
Low pH potentiates both capsaicin binding and channel gating of VR1 receptors.
Ryu S[SIZE=.8461em]1[/SIZE], Liu B, Qin F.
Author information
Abstract
Capsaicin ion channels are highly expressed in peripheral nervous terminals and involved in pain and thermal sensations. One characteristic of the cloned VR1 receptor is its multimodal responses to various types of noxious stimuli. The channel is independently activated by capsaicin and related vanilloids at submicromolar range, by heat above 40 degrees C, and by protons at pH below 6.5. Furthermore, simultaneous applications of two or more stimuli lead to cross sensitization of the receptor, with an apparent increase in the sensitivity to any individual stimulus when applied alone. We studied here the mechanism underlying such cross-sensitization; in particular, between capsaicin and pH, two prototypical stimuli for the channel. By analyzing single-channel currents recorded from excised-patches expressing single recombinant VR1 receptors, we examined the effect of pH on burst properties of capsaicin activation at low concentrations and the effect on gating kinetics at high concentrations. Our results indicate that pH has dual effects on both capsaicin binding and channel gating. Lowering pH enhances the apparent binding affinity of capsaicin, promotes the occurrences of long openings and short closures, and stabilizes at least one of the open conformations of the channel. Our data also demonstrate that capsaicin binding and protonation of the receptor interact allosterically, where the effect of one can be offset by the effect of the other. These results provide important basis to further understand the nature of the activation pathways of the channel evoked by different stimuli as well as the general mechanism underling the cross-sensitization of pain.
