CH-19 Sweet, Nonpungent Cultivar of Red Pepper, Increased Body Temperature in Mice with Vanilloid Receptors Stimulation by Capsiate

Abstract

We investigated the effect of CH-19 Sweet, a nonpungent cultivar of red pep-per, and capsiate, a nonpungent capsaicin analog found in CH-19 Sweet on body tempera-ture in mice. The body temperature was recorded from conscious and unrestrained mice by use of a telemetry system. The body temperature in the mice administered CH-19 Sweet was higher than in the mice administered California-Wandar, which contains no capsiate or capsaicin. The body temperature in the mice administered capsiate was higher than in the mice administered the vehicle. Furthermore, we injected capsazepine, a specific antagonist of vanilloid receptors, into the peritoneal cavity and orally administered capsiate via a stom-ach tube to mice. The body temperature in the mice pretreated with capsazepine was lower than in the mice injected with the vehicle. This result suggested that capsazepine sup-pressed the rise in body temperature induced by capsiate administration. In conclusion, CH-19 Sweet increased body temperature, and this effect may be induced by the vanilloid recep-tors' stimulation of capsiate.