The spicy compound in chilies kicks off a chemical cascade that reduces gut inflammation and immune activity in mice. Christopher Intagliata reports.

红辣椒中的辛辣化合物会产生一系列连锁化学反应，可以减少小鼠肠道炎症和免疫活度。克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔报道。

撰文/播音：克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔（Christopher Intagliata）

翻译：郭鑫鹏

审校：李轩

The ingredient that makes hot chilies hot is called capsaicin-and it can set your mouth on fire. But the spicy compound has a soothing effect too: in your gut, it kicks off a chemical cascade that might calm the immune system and reduce inflammation.

红辣椒之所以辛辣是因为其中的辣椒素，它可以让你的嘴感觉像火烧一样。但是辛辣成分也有着舒缓的效果：它能在你的肠道中引发一系列连锁反应，从而抑制免疫系统并消除炎症。

Researchers studied that phenomenon in mice. Once inside the gut, the capsaicin molecules plugged into a specific receptor, spurring the release of another compound, called anandamide. Anandamide happens to be an endocannabinoid-similar to active ingredients in marijuana-which binds to cannabinoid receptors in the gut. That last step in the cascade ramped up the production of cells that damp down inflammation in the mice-and even cured them of a mouse model of diabetes type 1, an autoimmune disease.

研究者在小鼠中研究了这个现象。当辣椒素分子进入肠道后，它与一个特定受体结合，加速了一种被称作“花生四烯酸乙醇胺”化合物的释放。花生四烯酸乙醇胺碰巧又是一种内源性大麻素，类似于大麻中能够和肠道中大麻素受体结合的有效成分。连锁化学反应的最后一步使得减轻炎症的细胞大幅增加，甚至还治愈了小鼠的Ⅰ型糖尿病，这是一种自身免疫性疾病。

If all this sounds a bit similar to the chemical messaging that happens in the brain…that’s because it is. “The gut has a very large nervous system. It’s almost as large as the brain itself. Pramod Srivastava, an immunologist at UConn Health and one of the study’s leaders.

这些听起来似乎很像大脑中发生的化学通讯，那是因为——它们本质确实是一样的。“肠道中有一个巨大的神经系统，几乎就和大脑本身一样庞大。”康涅狄格大学健康中心和研究领导人之一的免疫学家普拉莫德·斯里瓦斯塔瓦说。

“We don’t quite fully understand what this huge amount of neurons are doing in the gut. We don’t understand its language, and the molecules and mediators. And I think with this work we can at least claim to have found a couple of words in that language.” The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. [Nandini Acharya et al., Endocannabinoid system acts as a regulator of immune homeostasis in the gut]

“我们还没有完全理解肠道中这样庞大数量的神经元是怎样工作的。我们不理解它的语言，还没确定分子和神经递质是什么。不过我认为通过这项工作，我们至少可以明白这种语言中的一些单词。“这项研究发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。

So to recap that chemical chain: chilies cause the production of endocannabinoids, which produce immune suppressant cells, which soothe inflammation. So, what if you cut out the chili initiator, and just eat cannabinoids-pot brownies, stuff like that?

关于那个化学连锁反应，概括起来就是：红辣椒导致内源性大麻素的产生，进而促进免疫抑制细胞的产生，最终舒缓了炎症。那么问题来了，如果绕过辣椒引发剂，直接摄入大麻素，比如食用大麻蛋糕，会发生什么呢？

“Obviously we are very interested in people who use edible cannabinoids. I’m extremely curious if people with colitis or Crohn’s disease, who are edible pot users, do they benefit from it? I have no idea. But it’s something we can now find out because sizable numbers of people are consuming those edibles.”

“很明显，我们对那些直接使用可食用大麻素的人们很感兴趣。我尤其好奇那些有大肠炎或者克罗恩病，同时又使用可食用大麻的人们，他们是否由此受益？我并不知道。但是由于很多人都在使用可食用大麻，是时候把这件事事情弄清楚了。“

-Christopher Intagliata

https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/hot-chilies-cool-down-gut-inflammation-in-mice/