Xu Haoxing, Delling Markus, Jun Janice C, Clapham David E
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, 320 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Nat Neurosci. 2006 May;9(5):628-35. doi: 10.1038/nn1692. Epub 2006 Apr 16.
Carvacrol, eugenol and thymol are major components of plants such as oregano, savory, clove and thyme. When applied to the tongue, these flavors elicit a warm sensation. They are also known to be skin sensitizers and allergens. The transient receptor potential channel (TRPV3) is a warm-sensitive Ca2+-permeable cation channel highly expressed in the skin, tongue and nose. Here we show that TRPV3 is strongly activated and sensitized by carvacrol, thymol and eugenol. Tongue and skin epithelial cells respond to carvacrol and eugenol with an increase in intracellular Ca2+ levels. We also show that this TRPV3 activity is strongly potentiated by phospholipase C-linked, G protein-coupled receptor stimulation. In addition, carvacrol activates and rapidly desensitizes TRPA1, which may explain the pungency of oregano. Our results support a role for temperature-sensitive TRP channels in chemesthesis in oral and nasal epithelium and suggest that TRPV3 may be a molecular target of plant-derived skin sensitizers.
香芹酚、丁香酚和百里香酚是牛至、香薄荷、丁香和百里香等植物的主要成分。当涂抹于舌头上时，这些味道会引发一种温热的感觉。它们也被认为是皮肤致敏剂和过敏原。瞬时受体电位通道（TRPV3）是一种对温度敏感的Ca2+通透性阳离子通道，在皮肤、舌头和鼻子中高度表达。在此我们表明，TRPV3被香芹酚、百里香酚和丁香酚强烈激活并致敏。舌头和皮肤上皮细胞对香芹酚和丁香酚的反应是细胞内Ca2+水平升高。我们还表明，这种TRPV3活性通过磷脂酶C连接的G蛋白偶联受体刺激而得到强烈增强。此外，香芹酚激活TRPA1并使其迅速脱敏，这可能解释了牛至的辛辣味。我们的结果支持温度敏感的瞬时受体电位通道在口腔和鼻上皮化学感觉中的作用，并表明TRPV3可能是植物源性皮肤致敏剂的分子靶点。
