This research may help to provide guidance for regulation addressing driver distraction caused by cell phone conversations.

Capsaicinoids, found in less-than-lethal self-defense weapons, have been associated with respiratory failure and death in exposed animals and people. The studies described herein provide evidence for acute respiratory inflammation and damage to epithelial cells in experimental animals, and provide precise molecular mechanisms that mediate these effects using human bronchiolar and alveolar epithelial cells. Inhalation exposure of rats to pepper sprays (capsaicinoids) produced acute inflammation and damage to nasal, tracheal, bronchiolar, and alveolar cells in a dose-related manner. In vitro cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that cultured human lung cells (BEAS-2B and A549) were more susceptible to necrotic cell death than liver (HepG2) cells. Transcription of the human vanilloid receptor type-1, VR1 or TRPV1, was demonstrated by RT-PCR in all of these cells, and the relative transcript levels were correlated to cellular susceptibility. TRPV1 receptor activation was presumably responsible for cellular cytotoxicity, but prototypical functional antagonists of this receptor were cytotoxic themselves, and did not ameliorate capsaicinoid-induced damage. Conversely, the TRPV1 antagonist capsazepine, as well as calcium chelation by EGTA ablated cytokine (IL-6) production after capsaicin exposure. To address these seemingly contradictory results, recombinant human TRPV1 was cloned and overexpressed in BEAS-2B cells. These cells exhibited dramatically increased cellular susceptibility to capsaicinoids, measured using IL-6 production and cytotoxicity, and an apoptotic mechanism of cell death. Surprisingly, the cytotoxic effects of capsaicin in TRPV1 overexpressing cells were also not inhibited by TRPV1 antagonists or by treatments that modified extracellular calcium. Thus, capsaicin interacted with TRPV1 expressed by BEAS-2B and other airway epithelial cells to cause the calcium-dependent production of cytokines and, conversely, calcium-independent cell death. These results have demonstrated that capsaicinoids contained in pepper spray products produce airway inflammation and cause respiratory epithelial cell death. The mechanisms of these cellular responses to capsaicinoids appear to proceed via distinct cellular pathways, but both pathways are initiated by TRPV1.

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Capsaicin is a common dietary constituent and a popular homeopathic treatment for chronic pain. Exposure to capsaicin has been shown to cause various dose-dependent acute physiological responses including the sensation of burning and pain, respiratory depression, and death. In this study, the P450-dependent metabolism of capsaicin by recombinant P450 enzymes and hepatic and lung microsomes from various species, including humans, was determined. A combination of LC/MS, LC/MS/MS, and LC/NMR was used to identify several metabolites of capsaicin that were generated by aromatic (M5 and M7) and alkyl hydroxylation (M2 and M3), O-demethylation (M6), N- (M9) and alkyl dehydrogenation (M1 and M4), and an additional ring oxygenation of M9 (M8). Dehydrogenation of capsaicin was a novel metabolic pathway and produced unique macrocyclic, diene, and imide metabolites. Metabolism of capsaicin by microsomes was inhibited by the nonselective P450 inhibitor 1-aminobenzotriazole (1-ABT). Metabolism was catalyzed by CYP1A1, 1A2, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, and 3A4. Addition of GSH (2 mM) to microsomal incubations stimulated the metabolism of capsaicin and trapped several reactive electrophilic intermediates as their GSH adducts. These results suggested that reactive intermediates, which inactivated certain P450 enzymes, were produced during catalytic turnover. Comparison of the rate and types of metabolites produced from capsaicin and its analogue, nonivamide, demonstrated similar pathways in the P450-dependent metabolism of these two capsaicinoids. However, production of the dehydrogenated (M4), macrocyclic (M1), and omega-1-hydroxylated (M3) metabolites was not observed for nonivamide. These differences may be reflective of the mechanism of formation of these metabolites of capsaicin. The role of metabolism in the cytotoxicity of capsaicin and nonivamide was also assessed in cultured lung and liver cells. Lung cells were markedly more sensitive to cytotoxicity by capsaicin and nonivamide. Cytotoxicity was enhanced 5 and 40% for both compounds by 1-ABT in BEAS-2B and HepG2, respectively. These data suggested that metabolism of capsaicinoids by P450 in cells represented a detoxification mechanism (in contrast to bioactivation).

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