By Nicole Garneau, PhD
New Frontiers in Chemesthesis: pronounced keem-E-thesis, think
perception of pain, temperature, and touch (can be used in all
sensory organs)- in the mouth it includes pain from capsaicin in
hot peppers, menthol cooling sensation, and the signals are sent to
the brain through cranial nerve V- the trigeminal nerve.

Synonyms- irritation, common chemical sense. A stimulant
that is perceived and the body reponse.
Today's excellent talks which included these cool data:
1. "Toothache tree" Zanthoxylum (peppercorns) contains
hydroxy-alpha-sanshool. This compound causes "tingling" when used
topically. Dr. Diana Bautista (I'll get a video embeded above)
showed that the mechanism of this natural pain reliever was not due
to the same ways that capsaicin or mustard seed works, and that it
can reverse mechanical (touch) sensitivity when skin is
inflamed.

2. Oleocanthal, a chemical in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO
as Rachel Ray would say), is pungent to the human oral
cavity, Dr. Catherine Peyrot de Gachons found this
mild irritation is due to the same mechanism of action
as ibruprophen, it elicits the TRPA1 channel.


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