You Have Taste Receptors In Your Lungs 223
timothy points out news of a study from the University of Maryland's School of Medicine that found bitter taste receptors on the smooth muscle lining airways in the lungs (abstract in Nature). Quoting:
"The taste receptors in the lungs are the same as those on the tongue. The tongue’s receptors are clustered in taste buds, which send signals to the brain. The researchers say that in the lung, the taste receptors are not clustered in buds and do not send signals to the brain, yet they respond to substances that have a bitter taste. ... 'I initially thought the bitter-taste receptors in the lungs would prompt a "fight or flight" response to a noxious inhalant, causing chest tightness and coughing so you would leave the toxic environment, but that’s not what we found,' says Dr. Liggett. ... The researchers tested a few standard bitter substances known to activate these receptors. 'It turns out that the bitter compounds worked the opposite way from what we thought. They all opened the airway more extensively than any known drug that we have for treatment of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).'"
That explains my preference (Score:5, Funny)
For Dunhill over Pariament and Davidoff over Benson & Hedges!
Maybe some help for Asthmatics (Score:2)
Re:Maybe some help for Asthmatics (Score:5, Interesting)
I wonder if this has any bearing on how hot toddy's work?
_
Re:Maybe some help for Asthmatics (Score:5, Insightful)
it would not only be safer for children and people in general but vastly cheaper.
Cheaper?
If it can't be patented and net drug companies billions of $$$; I doubt there will be a company to spend the millions for the research required to get "bitter-taste-based medication" through FDA approval.
Once they have the patent on the method of operation ("bitter tasting substance used to treat COPD, or bitter tasting substance used to treat asthma by stimulating lung taste receptors"), they will charge the standard markups all proprietary drugs get.
IOW -- it will probably be more expensive, or we'll probably never see a product based on that come to market that can be legally marketed as such. Just a bunch of studies that show the idea is promising.
Re: (Score:2)
And getting it by the FDA is going to be as much a pain as you indicated, not to mention that there will likely be some "incentives" to the FDA director/testers to ignore, delay, lose the testing protocols for any product based on this discovery that did make it that far.
Likely it will be other countries that move forward wi
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm guessing it would be patentable.
An example:
Finasteride was initially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992 under the brand name Proscar, a treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In 1997, the FDA approved finasteride to treat male pattern baldness
someone discovered that a 1 mg daily dose of a prostate cancer drug normally taken in 5mg doses for prostate cancer could treat baldness.
The drug was out of patent for prostate cancer but the trials were done for baldness.
he
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Tonic water contains a small amount of quinine, which is considered bitter. That might be an interesting development, Schweppes for COPD.
Of course I'm not suggesting that anyone with a health issue such as COPD should undertake such home tests. If, as you suggest, other countries found effective therapies, it would be hard to stop th
Re:Maybe some help for Asthmatics (Score:5, Interesting)
The abstract says that saccharin was tested. That's a very easy to get substance.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
While you are correct, it might also be so simple that you can whip up an herbal extract and put it in an atomizer. I suspect that a water-based extract of some bitter herb is all that is necessary, plus perhaps a tiny smidge of citric acid or alcohol for freshness (don't get carried away, kids!)
The expensiveness and homicidal dreams of anti-malaria medication don't prevent a tea made from olive leaves from curing malaria. Fucking Pliny knew about this if that helps you understand how old it is, yet today w
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
While you are correct, it might also be so simple that you can whip up an herbal extract and put it in an atomizer. I suspect that a water-based extract of some bitter herb is all that is necessary
Yes... if people self-medicate, at their own risk, some people could try that.
Their doctor/health care professional, however, would be taking so huge a legal risk to recommend or order use of a product as a medication not FDA approved for that usage, they would probably not do that
Without someone running clin
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Their doctor/health care professional, however, would be taking so huge a legal risk to recommend or order use of a product as a medication not FDA approved for that usage, they would probably not do that
That's okay, most of middle america can't afford to go to the doctor any more, so that's a non-issue. (The poorest people, of course, receive the standard sub-standard health care...)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Their doctor/health care professional, however, would be taking so huge a legal risk to recommend or order use of a product as a medication not FDA approved for that usage, they would probably not do that
That's nonsense, it happens all the time. One example, Propranolol is a beta blocker originally indicated as a heart medication. It's quite effective and very safe. It's never been approved for treating anxiety, but doctors hand it out like candy to musicians and performers to handle stage fright. There
Re: (Score:2)
Having taken propranolol (for migraines, it didn't work btw) I find it interesting it is also used for performance anxiety. I wonder if it actually reduces the anxiety or simply removes the physical effects. A while back there was an Olympic sport shooter [wikipedia.org] that was stripped of his medals for using propranolol, presumably to assist aiming.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, it mainly stops the physical effects of anxiety. Shaking hands or an uneven voice are caused by the effects of adrenalin, which propranolol blocks. Psychologically, it only affects anxiety in an indirect way, by reassuring performers that they won't have to deal with their voice wavering or fingers trembling.
Re: (Score:2)
If it can't be patented and net drug companies billions of $$$; I doubt there will be a company to spend the millions for the research required to get "bitter-taste-based medication" through FDA approval.
The nice thing is, if these "standard bitter substances" have been FDA approved for one application they can be used for any application. You don't have to get FDA approval for each indication, so if these are already known substances it might be pretty easy to get a product made.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe some herbalist could devise a spray of Gentain ( very bitter ) extractives and experiment inhaling it themselves. If they don't die, maybe they could put it in a spray 'flavor spray' 'food'. Then by word of mouth it might spread through the Asthmatic community that it works better than standard inhalers ( if indeed it did work ), displacing them. Nobody would need to make claims as to inhaled gentain extract's supposed drug qualities.... Maybe it doesn't need to be inhaled. If not, they could ma
What about Ricola? (Score:2)
That may be true of most traditional drug companies but what about the Natural remedy companies like Ricola? I'm sure they would love an all natural treatment for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease!
Nick Powers
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder if this has any bearing on how hot toddy's work?
Maybe if you make it wrong. If you make it "right," the booze just makes you forget that you feel sick.
Re:Maybe some help for Asthmatics (Score:4, Interesting)
I would call your observation accurate and realistic. If they can they will profit from this as much as possible, if they can not they will do everything they can to bury this or ensure that only they can control the distribution channels, which they will then manipulate to either make it impossible to get or cost so much that no one can afford it. Then they will stop distributing it "because there is no demand".
_
Let me just point out... (Score:2)
In the meantime, surely there are enough hints here for home remedies:
I mean, really... if this does
Re:Maybe some help for Asthmatics (Score:5, Interesting)
AM I being a naive old man watching people complain about companies who save millions of people's lives and improves the lives of millions of others evert day, and all they take in return is paper with patterns painted on it.
Seriously, I spend more on coffee than Singulair, but the later is by any definition, a miracle drug.
Grow up. If you don't like them making all that money off the hard working backs of all those poor people you pretend to know, BUY SHARES.
Re:Maybe some help for Asthmatics (Score:4, Funny)
"...and all they take in return is paper with patterns painted on it."
And if this little characterization doesn't falls under the "dream abnormalities and hallucinations" heading, then I don't know what would.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
"Singulair side effects include...other side effects such as agitation, aggression, anxiousness, dream abnormalities and hallucinations, depression, irritability, restlessness and tremor"
Sounds like the same side effects of the coffee he referred to.
-JJS
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously, I spend more on coffee than Singulair, but the later is by any definition, a miracle drug.
I find it ironic that you could apparently be saving money by simply breathing in your coffee...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, they could sue you in theory. In practice they won't because there are no statutory damages for patent infringement and so all that they would be able to collect is actual damages.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Sour and Bitter are two different tastes, but that's kind of the idea!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Sulfoxides plus the brine to make them into a nice vapour.
Attacks are the normal "I'm being poisoned" reflex. Sulfoxides are close enough.
Re: (Score:2)
Let's see what they come up with from this.
How about some bitter substance that you can carry in a vial, and breathe in if you ever lack oxygen? For instance, if you're wearing a tight corset, you might feel faint due to your compressed lungs, and use this to help recover.
I'm gonna call it "Smelling Salts".
Great... (Score:3, Funny)
Neurotransmitters Are Bitter (Score:5, Informative)
When I was premed we experimented on fish with several neurotransmitters. Since I was in a frat, I eventually found myself doing shots of them (about 0.1cc each). They all tasted bitter.
They also gave me some stomach upset and one or two caused a little abdominal cramping. And I have become steadily more weird. Though since I started out weird enough to do neurotransmitter shots, so maybe I was headed here anyway.
Re:Neurotransmitters Are Bitter (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Neurotransmitters Are Bitter (Score:5, Insightful)
The neurotransmitters were ones like GABA and acetylcholine - both humans and fish produce and use them in our nerves.
In other words, I was already part fish. Thanks for explaining my longtime attraction to plastic castles.
Re: (Score:2)
When I was premed we experimented on fish with several neurotransmitters. Since I was in a frat, I eventually found myself doing shots of them (about 0.1cc each). They all tasted bitter.
That's odd, what kind of fish were they?
Re: (Score:2)
It's not odd at all. An advanced version of these experiments also run on goldfish [tmc.edu] tests a biochemical basis for memory.
Re: (Score:2)
I must be the only person who read his statement to mean that he took shots of fish.
Re: (Score:2)
0.1cc of fish isn't enough to get you off.
Re: (Score:2)
Did you read the part where I was in a frat? What is "accomplish" supposed to mean? Shots gratia shots.
Re: (Score:2)
Or to myself. Neurotransmitters weren't the edgiest substance I soaked up in college, and I've lived to tell the tale.
You don't see that every day (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not very often that researchers stumble onto something cheap and simple that could potentially save hundreds of millions of lives. I sure hope it pans out in practice.
Re:You don't see that every day (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not very often that researchers stumble onto something cheap and simple that could potentially save hundreds of millions of lives. I sure hope it pans out in practice.
No, but it's every other week that some researcher thinks he has.
Re: (Score:2)
And every other day that some researcher submits a grant application claiming one.
Re:You don't see that every day (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it's at least that often that a science journalist misrepresents a researcher's statements to make it sound like he thinks he has.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not very often that researchers stumble onto something cheap and simple that could potentially save hundreds of millions of lives.
Big Pharma + patents = perverse incentives
There's no money to be made in taking something through the expense of clinical trials when the patent can easily be sidestepped.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, boys, this one would be an easy one to test.
Find yourself (or be) a brave asthmatic.
Go out and buy some denatonium benzoate. It's readily available in liquid or powder form, and is pretty much non-toxic.
When you're feeling nice and congested ... snort up! (Or fire up a steamer and inhale some fumes.)
If it works, throw away those damned 25 dollar inhalers and let us know!
(Ain't science wunnerful?)
Coffee (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Any chance this is why the coffee for asthma remedy is supposedly effective? Perhaps inhaling the vapors for a bitter fluid are doing just what they described here?
My thoughts exactly! As an asthmatic, I have found myself often alleviated by coffee. My assumption was that either the warmth or maybe even the caffeine was responsible.
Can it be why just the smell of coffee makes me feel better?
I'm surely paying more attention in the future. *Goes get more coffee*
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The primary effectiveness of coffee comes from the stimulant properties of caffeine (take a couple of shots from an inhaler in close proximity with coffee and you'll notice that the stimulant effects of both compound for an unpleasant jittery effect).
HOWEVER the bitter vapors may very well increase the effectiveness.
I'm not surprised by this at all, based on decades of experience with bronchial problems.
Things I've noticed:
Cinnamon tends to have a soothing effect; particularly a "tea" of cinnamon with a sho
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
(I've always had the weirdest feeling of being able to taste cold air, when it gets down a little below freezing I experience a smoky sensation that doesn't seem to come from anywhere in particular)
That's the moisture in your airways 'steaming up' due to contact with the cold. Same thing that you'd see if you exhaled into that same air, but on the inside...
Hmmm (Score:2)
Could this be WHY vicks vapor rub works so well?
Re: (Score:2)
Menthol [wikipedia.org] is the active chemical in vapor rub, amongst other things.
Re: (Score:2)
I had a co-worker who when pregnant couldn't stay off the stuff. She had a bottle a day habit.
Re: (Score:2)
That sounds unhealthy. You can't use the stuff on babies, I'd be surprised if its use is not at least discouraged when pregnant.
Bitrex in Airdusters!? (Score:2, Interesting)
So, All along the Bitrex they put in airdusters has been helping people reach an extra high?
Re: (Score:2)
It helps me walk on sunshine [youtube.com]!
Known it for years.. (Score:2)
We've known it for years (decades, even) that there are taste receptors in the lungs. People with no taste/smells can taste things if they inhale deep enough. Also, there are taste receptors in the sinuses, on the roof of the mouth, and under the tongue as well.
Re: (Score:2)
in the lung, the taste receptors are not clustered in buds and do not send signals to the brain
Re: (Score:2)
Given the claim is for taste receptors which don't send anything to the brain, surely you can conclude they just might be different from something that can actually result in "tasting" something.
Beer(Hops)/Coffee & Cigs (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, this makes sense.
The other night my son was having breathing problems (asthma) and he'd just run out of his inhaler. He was also putting on a little drama, and making it worse than it was by exaggerating. Short of taking him to the ER, we didn't see many options.
So on a whim - and to get him to shut up and go to sleep - I poured a couple drops of "cleaning" grade whiskey in a glass and gave it to him. "Here's some medicine. Drink it quickly."
So he pounded the small amount of liquor. His face scrun
Evolutionary perspective (Score:4, Interesting)
didn't have time to read the whole paper. exam on this stuff tomorrow though, wonder if I can use this on an essay question?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Evolutionary perspective (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean why do some people have trouble smelling sulfur and others don't. Why do some people retain the ability to wiggle their ears while others don't. Or for that matter have ear lobes. None of those things are particularly make or break it in the current environment, but who knows maybe if things change they'll be more important.
Re: (Score:2)
Things which don't hurt our capability to reproduce tend to just hang around until such time as they do hurt our chances to reproduce.
Note, though, that with humans being involved the nature of 'reproduce' takes on a slightly different meaning. We may not know how long we humans have had notions of 'love', etc, but these certainly play a role today, and clearly will do so going forward. An individual that was perfectly viable from a biological standpoint may or may not get the opportunity to reproduce if they are not viable from a social standpoint.
Re: (Score:2)
But asthma and other breathing problems do impact a person's ability to breed, albeit only slightly.
Asthmatic kids are usually somewhat slight compared to their peers. They tire easily, and don't have much endurance. Every once in a while, one of them dies from an allergic response to something common (eg. walk into a dusty/musty/moldy closet or cave).
As such, they're weaker, unable to fight off enemies or run down food as easily. They either don't last until breeding ages or are undesirable for such a role
Re: (Score:2)
Well, first we need to ask whether humans are the only species that have them.
But if so, I'll put my chips on it being related to campfires. I could imagine how not being able to sit calmly next to a fire in a poorly ventilated cave would have been a disadvantage for much of human history.
Heck, if smokers didn't cause so many fires falling asleep with cigarettes, there'd probably be statistics about how they are more likely to be able to escape a burning house versus someone with pristine, easily irritated
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder what might be the reasoning behind this system evolving/remaining intact in humans. I can't really think of an exogenous substance that we inhale naturally that would activate such a response and confer an advantage to us.
Who said it had to be exogenous? The body naturally excretes adrenaline - a catecholamine neurotransmitter. Adrenaline, like all neurotransmitters (apparently - I didn't know that until reading this thread), are bitter. We know adrenaline widens breathing passages, so provided this 'bitter response' is independent from the impact adrenaline has on the lungs, I can see how a cooperative response would be beneficial.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
You are not considering the statistically aspect of it.. Imagine there are 1 billions combinations, but only 10 of them does anything useful. Given random genetic drift most changes to something useful will make it drift to become useless. Only natural selection will keep up the selection pressure to make up for the inherent negative force of genetic drift. Features that are not either useful or a biproduct of something useful will have a general tendency to disappear or be rendered useless.
Re: (Score:2)
It seems plausible that there is a slight advantage to having blue eyes, if only for sexual selection.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't quote Sherlock Holmes, until you have considered all other possibilities.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, that difference can be very tiny, but over enough generations and such, once you remove the need for something, it should eventually actually go away.
Re: (Score:2)
Bitter scents from the natural environemnt (Score:5, Interesting)
The idea that occurred to me while reading the summary is maybe this partially explains the sense of well-being gained from being in a forest or some leafy natural environment.
As we know, most plants taste bitter - perhaps plants are also releasing bitter tasting gasses which help to open up our lungs.
Re: (Score:2)
Since we taste bitter, not smell it, we wouldn't detect even a trace of "bitter" unless we breathed through our mouths. I doubt it would take much to trigger the receptors in the lungs so the other scent compounds would overpower the bitter signal from the tongue, so the brain gets an "Ooooo, Earthy, loamy goodness" signal while the lungs get "Open wide!".
Re: (Score:2)
That's possible, but I always thought that general feeling of well-being came from a combination of factors:
* Ozone from the rotting leaves. Supposedly, ozone has a calming sensation. I've noticed this feeling strongest in spring and fall in the Northeast (vs. the Western Mountains, where there isn't nearly as much rotting going on).
* The trees themselves. They're releasing oxygen. You're essentially getting high.
Of course, a bitter taste could also help explain why laying in a pile of leaves is so calming.
Re: (Score:2)
I would bet that things are wired like a very tight wheatstone bridge in the lung receptors so that smaller swings will result in larger results.
The amount you can smell/ notice is most likely orders of magnitude larger than what would be tripped by the lung receptors.
Old trick... (Score:2)
Maybe the ol' grandma trick of sniffing fumes from a weird stew of seemingly random herbs wasn't that silly after all.
Smelling is inhaling? (Score:2)
One of my favorite quotes... (Score:2)
Not news (Score:2)
This is hardly news to anyone who's ever had the distinctly horrible experience of "Nerds" going down the wrong pipe...
Inhale your food! (Score:2)
Of course.. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Simple test. Do the same thing, but block your nose and hold your breath this time. Can you smell stuff with your hands.
If you still can perhaps you do have smell receptors in your hands.
BUT to be sure try it blindfolded with random items (someone else will have to help) to see whether its in your mind. Or even some sort of synaesthesia.
Re: (Score:2)
Expect anything bitter and volatile to be classified as a controlled substance that can only be distributed on the condition that a pile of money is given to one of the major campaign contributing drug companies.
What, are they going to control the growing of wormwood (among others)?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
They already control growth of cannabis, which would otherwise be a common weed.
Re: (Score:2)
If the government 'controlled' the growth of cannabis, how come there hasn't been a reduction in availability?
Right, because the government is too incompetent to even get rid of fucking kudzu.
Re:Cynical Me (Score:4, Interesting)
If the government 'controlled' the growth of cannabis, how come there hasn't been a reduction in availability?
Right, because the government is too incompetent to even get rid of fucking kudzu.
Hey, they've done a great job making it more expensive: as an illegal drug its street value is roughly five times what it would be if it were legalized. Gotta keep those cartels in business; without marijuana their annual profit would be about 20-25% lower than it is.
Support Mexican Cartel violence! Keep Marijuana Illegal! (Paid for by police chiefs far away from the border)
Re: (Score:2)
How do you know someone won't go homicidal while watching paint dry? Or reading a book? Yes, let's ban everything because it might someday make someone fly into a murderous rage.
Re:Cynical Me (Score:5, Funny)
Have you ever seen someone high on pot drive? they are worse than drunks. [...] How do you know someone won't go homicidal while on pot?
OK, OK, we get that you've never smoked.
Re: (Score:2)
no I have smoked pot, I saw things that weren't really there and then my natural paranoia kicked in I wanted to get rid of the flying things.
My family are also angry drunks most of the time. Therefore I don't drink as I don't want to lose control and hurt someone(or myself). I don't do drugs not because it is bad but because I will lose control and I will probably hurt someone.
While I admit it is just me, the majority of people don't have that kind of self discipline, do you really want to take a chance w
Re: (Score:2)
Have you seen someone drive while blindfolded? they are worse than drunks.
Have you seen someone drive while masturbating? they are even worse than drunks.
Have you seen someone drive while asleep? they are worse than drunks.
Have you seen someone drive while playing WoW on their laptop? they are worse than drunks.
None of that matters in terms of whether blindfolds, masturbating, sleeping, or playing WoW should be illegal. Just as safety while diving is irrelevant to whether alcohol or pot shoiuld be illegal.
S
Re: (Score:2)
If it was legalized it would be taxed, company profits would be attached, the FDA gets involved, legal protection problems for the use of it, like alcohol. In the end it might just be cheaper to get it illegally. In the end it might just be cheaper to get it illegally.
True, it might be more expensive, but some (many?) people will still prefer to buy it legally because of the FDA's involvement (quality control, secure knowledge
Re: (Score:2)
People grow the stuff everywhere. Literally everywhere. I doubt that FDA and taxes are going to play a huge role for those who wish to avoid such.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Good luck taking away people's coffee or cocoa beans.
There would be blood in the streets. Male blood. Lots of male blood.