AU’s connection with Nobel winning research

Prayagraj: In the backdrop of the fact that the Nobel Committee has awarded the 2021 Physiology and Medicine Nobel Prize to two US scientists Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius for their discovery of the molecular basis for our ability to sense temperature and touch, this Nobel award winning research on capsaicin has an indirect connection with Allahabad University.
The scientists, in their research, have used the pungent ingredient present in chilli peppers known as ‘capsaicin’ to decipher their study on pain receptors. The Nobel Committee has recognized the importance of capsaicin and awarded the 2021 Nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine to them for their seminal discoveries on pain and temperature sensing mechanisms of living systems based on the action of the chemical capsaicin.
On the same lines, a research group under Prof SI Rizvi in the Biochemistry department here has been engaged in understanding the non-neuronal effects of capsaicin for the last 15 years. This research group has published a large number of research papers on the physiological and biochemical effects of capsaicin.
Speaking on these studies, Prof Rizvi said that capsaicin, the chemical which gives ‘hot taste’ to chillis, is a very interesting molecule.
“It binds to the same nerve endings on the skin which carry sensation of pain and also sensation of temperature. When capsaicin binds to these nerve endings, termed as nociceptors, the nerve is activated and we experience a sense of ‘hot’ feeling. However, when capsaicin binds to nociceptors or pain receptors for a longer time, the nerve becomes insensitive or numb,” he explained.
This property of capsaicin to make the nerves, which carry sensation of pain, numb has opened up possibilities to use this pungent compound to mitigate pain. It is also a common observation that food tastes hotter when it is at a higher temperature. This is because capsaicin’s effect is augmented by hot temperature, explained Prof Rizvi.
The research group at University of Allahabad has been engaged in research on the effects of capsaicin on the cell membrane. “We have explored a new dimension focused on the question as to why people in hot climatic regions eat more chillies,” he added.