Perilla Derived Compounds Mediate Human TRPA1 Channel Activity

Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels are an evolutionarily ancient and diverse superfamily of cation channels. Many TRP channels are involved in the transduction of stimuli of different sensory modalities: photo-, thermoreception, chemosensory reception and perhaps, mechanoreception and the activity of several TRP channels appear to be directly mediated by osmolarity and/or humidity. Like many other species across different phyla, mammals use TRP channels to detect a variety of physical and chemical stimuli including compounds derived from food plants and spices. 

An interesting feature of some TRP channel family members is their ability to detect and integrate qualitatively different stimuli. For example, the temperature sensitive mammalian TRPV1 (sensitive to high temperature) and TRPM8 (sensitive to low temperature) channels were also demonstrated to interact with chemical compounds associated with high or low temperature perception, such as chili pepper derived capsaicinoids and menthol from peppermint respectively.