On page 82, Maolem discusses how biting on a habanero pepper makes the eater feel as if they were being poisoned. The chemical capsaicin is actually a poison that is produced within the pepper itself. Mammals such as humans and rats are affected by capsaicin as it affects the nerve fibers that sense pain and heat. However birds are not affected by capsaicin. Because of this, mammals should be deterred from eating the peppers, as the digestive systems of mammals will destroy the seeds, and birds' digestive systems do not. This is why birds are the primary form of spreading pepper seeds naturally.
Capsaicin is classified as a "sticky poison," so it sticks to mucous membrances. This is why people say to never touch your eyes after handling peppers, as well as why the heat from a pepper will burn for a long time. The stickiness also prevents capsaicin from dissolving in water. But capsaicin also will selectively degenerate some neurons, which is why consuming mass quantities of peppers is potentially harmful. This is shown through ethnic groups such as those in Sri Lanka, where peppers are a staple, have higher rates of stomach cancer. This relates to big idea 4 as the capsaicin is interacting with the neurons within the body.
Research what neurons capsaicin will potentially degenerate, and how the degeneration of such neurons will affect the body. Also, research another natural ingredient that can cause cancers in humans, and which areas they affect.
(Name- Ray Lee, Email- rclee4@students.d125.org )
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ReplyDeleteFrom a scientific journal called “Capsaicin-induced neuronal degeneration in the brain and retina of preweanling rats.”, capsaicins are said to cause degeneration of unmyelinated small primary sensory neurons in spinal and cranial nerves. While it’s said by Moalem on page 83 that people that eat lots of hot peppers have a higher tendency to get stomach cancer, a scientific journal called “Dose- dependent effects of capsaicin on primary sensory neurons in the neonatal rat” that was done on rats show that high doses of capsaicin causes myelinated fibers to be depleted. From our book, myelinated fibers help electric signals be transmitted across our body at very fast speeds. With the many myelinated fibers being depleted, signals can be lost and that could hurt our body. From our book, afferent neurons along the PNS transfer sensory information to the CNS. Many responses to stimuli in the body won’t be possible if capsaicin degenerate primary sensory neurons. Efferent neurons won’t be able to transmit information to effectors like muscles, glands, and endocrine cells.
ReplyDeleteThe prompt and this response relate to big idea 3(Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes). The nervous system is made of many cells that communicate and respond to the external environment. Many sensory neurons transmit information from sensory organs like eyes and ears is sent to processing centers in the brain or ganglia where it’s processed. Motor neurons transmit the signals to muscle cells to form movements like contractions in our muscles to respond to the external environment. (Campbell 1048) The nervous systems in our body process and interface with sensory and internal body systems, and the body coordinates a response to stimuli. Capsaicin can affect the sensory neurons, which can prevent proper response by the nervous system. That can cause diseases like stomach cancer to form in people who are exposed to a lot of capsaicin.
Also, another scientific journal called “The Two Faces of Capsaicin” states that it is possible that “In contrast, another study showed grossly visible gastric bleeding and mucosal microbleeding after consumption of red and black pepper” which shows a possibility of how a higher chance of stomach cancer occurs in people that eat a lot of peppers. From an article in Science Daily, it’s said that capsaicin has been shown to even cause apoptosis, which is cell death, in cancerous cells. However, it’s also shown that capsaicin induces inflammation and can act as a carcinogen during a very important stage of cancer development. This shows that capsaicin can cause increased risk for skin cancer as well as as stomach cancer as stated by Moalem.
Another natural carcinogen is called aflatoxin, which is produced by Aspergillus fungi on grains, nuts, and peanut butter that many people consume.High exposure to aflatoxin can cause mutations in the p53 gene, a gene that prevents cell cycle progression when there are DNA mutations, or signaling cells for apoptosis. P53 codes the proteins that inhibit the development of many tumors, and mutations in the p53 gene will cause no proteins that inhibit the development of cancer to be produced. Aflatoxin makes it so mutated cells with errors aren’t able to be fixed or destroyed. This relates to big idea 3(Living systems store, retrieve, transmit, and respond to information essential to life processes.) Many proteins produced from genes have the function of checking on errors in DNA nucleotide sequences, and carcinogens like aflatoxin inhibits this process.Errors can occur when mistakes happen during DNA replication. In the case of aflatoxin, the error prevents proteins from inhibits repairs or cells that have errors to be destroyed. That lets cells in the liver grow very quickly to create tumors, a symptom of cancer.
DeleteSources used :
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2358547
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/71/8/2809.full
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/3/2/399.full.pdf
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100902121057.htm
(Eric Huang, ehuang4@students.d125.org)