![\"Researchers](\"https:\/\/wp-assets.futurism.com\/2018\/11\/pain-relief-resiniferatoxin-rtx-300x157.jpg\")
<\/div>Watch Your Tongue<\/h2>
You probably don’t go around biting into plants covered in needles. But if you happened to chomp down on Euphorbia resinifera, a cactus-like plant also known as the resin spurge, you’d seriously regret it — and not for the reason you might think.<\/p>
The plant’s active ingredient, resiniferatoxin (RTX), is incredibly<\/em> spicy — a full 10,000 times hotter than the world’s hottest pepper on the scale<\/a> used to measure hotness. But in an ironic twist, RTX could actually be the future of pain relief<\/em>.<\/p> According to a newly published story<\/a> in WIRED<\/em>, researchers across the globe have taken a keen interest in RTX as a painkiller.<\/p> They’ve discovered that, when injected into the body, the chemical binds to TRPV1, a molecule found in the nerve endings that sense pain. This opens a channel in the nerve ending that calcium can then flow through. This calcium overload deactivates the pain-sensing nerve without affecting other sensory neurons, such as those that allow a person to feel a light touch.<\/p> RTX researcher Michael Iadarola has tested RTX on dogs, injecting the chemical into the animals’ knees to alleviate joint pain, with promising results.<\/p> “It is profoundly effective there, and lasts much, much longer than I might have expected, maybe a median of 5 months before the owners of the dogs asked for reinjection,” he told WIRED<\/em>. “The animals went from basically limping to running around.”<\/p> Besides simply being effective, RTX has numerous benefits over existing painkillers: It doesn’t require frequent dosing, targets only the area causing pain, and doesn’t produce a potentially addictive high.<\/p> If the powerful chemical becomes widely available for human use, it could eventually begin to replace opioids as the go-to medication for addressing major pain issues — helping society address its major opioid addiction issue<\/a> in the process.<\/p> READ MORE:<\/strong> This Chemical Is so Hot It Destroys Nerve Endings-in a Good Way<\/a> [WIRED<\/em>]<\/p> More on opioids: Four Reasons Why the Opioid Epidemic Is Getting Worse, Not Better<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> The post A Super-Spicy Plant Could Help End the Opioid Crisis<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> See more here: Watch Your Tongue You probably don\u2019t go around biting into plants covered in needles. Continue reading Nerves Ending<\/h2>
Crisis Diverted<\/h2>
A Super-Spicy Plant Could Help End the Opioid Crisis<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"