The effect of capsaicin treatment (intraperitoneally) on the pulmonary anti‐oxidant enzyme system has been studied using rats as experimental animals. Short‐term treatment with capsaicin has been found to cause a significant increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) activities. On the other hand, long‐term treatment with capsaicin produced a significant decrease in CAT and POD activities. This result has been interpreted in terms of the already reported ‘activation’ and ‘densensitization’ action of capsaicin on short‐ and long‐term treatment respectively. Copyright © 1989 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A K DE

J J GHOSH

University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University or CU) is a collegiate public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.&nbsp;Within India it is recognized as a &quot;Five-Star University&quot; and accredited &quot;A&quot; Grade by National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

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The University of Calcutta has secured the Fifth position among the Universities of India in the prestigious &quot;Indian University Ranking 2019&quot; list, released by the NIRF of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

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It was established on 24 January 1857, and was one of the first institutions in Asia to be established as a multidisciplinary and Western-style university. Its alumni and faculty include several heads of state, heads of government, social reformers, prominent artists, only academy award winner and Dirac medal winner in India, many Fellows of the Royal Society and five Nobel laureates as of 2019 which is highest in South Asia.

University Of Calcutta

Phytotherapy Research

Gross histomorphological alterations and biochemical changes, particularly in the lipid pattern of lung alveolar tissues, were oblerved in rats after intraperitoneal injection of capsaicin (the pungent principle of red hot pepper). Preliminary experiments showed that short‐term capsaicin treatment produced and inflammatory response with significant degenerative changes in the alveolar epithelial cells and increased cellularity of lung alveoli, as revealed by thickening of lung alveolar cells with occasional rupture of lung alveolar cellular integrity. The cytological changes were correlated with concomitant biochemical changes revealed by the decreased cholesterol and phospholipid content of lung alveolar tissues and infiltration of phospholipids towards the lumen of the alveoli which may be the cause of thickening of the alveoli cell lining of the lung tissues. On the other hand, long term capsaicin‐treated rat lungs showed a significant inhibition of capsaicin induced damage of lung tissues indicating a possible dual action of capsaicin on antiinflammatory respones in the pulmonary system. Copyright © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Histomorphological and biochemical changes of lung tissues following capsaicin treatment in the rat

Capsaicin (8‐methyl‐n‐vanillyl‐6‐nonenamide), the pungent principle of red hot pepper, has been reported to cause ‘activation’ followed by ‘desensitization’ of the tissue against various types of irritant induced damage, on short‐ and long‐term application respectively. This review discusses one aspect of the mechanism of capsaicin induced activation followed by desensitization by discussing the modulatory effects of capsaicin on lipid peroxidative changes caused by different irritants (e.g. gaseous, chemical and radiation). Copyright © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Capsaicin action modulates lipid peroxidation induced by different irritants

Chlorotetracycline calcium fluorescence studies have been carried out on acute and chronic capsaicin treated rat lung mitochondria and microsome membrane fractions in the presence of different concentrations of capsaicin (1–100 nM) under in vivo conditions. Results indicate, that acute capsaicin treated rat lung membrane fractions are quite different from those that are chronically treated, with respect to capsaicin mediated calcium permeability, measured in terms of calcium induced CTC fluorescence alterations. It seems that the reported ‘activation’ phenomena of acute capsaicin treatment may be associated with calcium influx across the membrane. On the other hand, the reported ‘desensitization’ phenomena of chronic capsaicin treatment may be due to inhibition of capsaicin mediated calcium influx. Copyright © 1991 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In vitro and in vivo studies on capsaicin and membrane bound calcium interactions in the rat lung using chlorotetracycline (CTC) as a fluorescence probe

Exposure of rats to formalin and nitrogen dioxide vapour caused a significant increase in values of the lung wet wt/dry wt ratio (oedema formation) and lipid peroxidation. These effects were not observed in rats treated with short‐term capsaicin, either before or after exposure to the two gases. This protective action of short‐term capsaicin treatment can possibly be linked with the strengthening of the pulmonary antioxidant enzyme defence system by capsaicin. Copyright © 1991 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effects of shortâ€term capsaicin treatment on formalin and nitrogen dioxide induced changes in lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzyme system in rat lung

Pretreatment with capsaicin tends to normalize pulmonary lipid peroxidation changes induced by exposure to sulfur dioxide, formalin or nitrogen dioxide gases. This protective effect of capsaicin pretreatment appears to be due to the stabilization of the rat lung membrane lipid system. Copyright © 1989 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Capsaicin pretreatment protects free radical induced rat lung damage on exposure to gaseous chemical lung irritants

Capsaicin extracted from natural sources (Capsicum frutescens) and standard capsaicin (Sigma Chemicals) were used in this study. On acute treatment capsaicin produced a dose‐related inflammatory response in rat paw as measured by the volume displacement method. This response was found to be synergestic when injected with carrageenan. Preliminary experiments showed that pretreatment with diphenhydramine‐HCl produced a significant inhibition of this acute capsaicin induced paw oedema, whereas indomethacin and methysergide were ineffective in blocking paw oedema. On the other hand, chronically capsaicin treated rats (for 10 days) showed a significant inhibition of paw oedema when treated with either carregeenan or a single high dose of capsaicin. Both the extracted and the standard capsaicin showed a similar type of response in all experiments. Copyright © 1988 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Journal	Phytotherapy Research
Publisher	-
ISSN	0951-418X