chilly

接着练舌头，有点辣---Chilly

The ingredient that makes hot chilies hot is called capsaicin - 辣椒之所以辣是因为它含有一种被称为辣椒素的成份

[00:03.98]and it can set your mouth on fire. 而辣椒素可以使你的嘴巴冒火。

[00:05.78]But the spicy compound has a soothing effect too: 但这种辣味还有一种镇静作用：

[00:08.55]in your gut, it kicks off a chemical cascade 在你的肠道中， 它可以引发一个化学级联反应，

[00:11.17]that might calm the immune system and reduce inflammation.或许会使你的免疫系统冷静下来并且减少炎症发生。

[00:14.24]Researchers studied that phenomenon in mice. 研究人员在小鼠身上研究了这种现象。

[00:16.81]Once inside the gut, the capsaicin molecules plugged into a specific receptor, 一旦进入肠道， 辣椒素分子就连结上了一个特异性的受体

[00:21.15]spurring the release of another compound, called anandamide. 刺激另外一种化合物被释放出来，这种化合物被称为内源性大麻素。

[00:24.47]Anandamide happens to be an endocannabinoid - 内大麻素变为一种真正的内源性大麻成份

[00:27.32]similar to active ingredients in marijuana 就和人们熟知的大麻中的活性成份相似

[00:29.65]and it binds to cannabinoid receptors in the gut. 进而它会连接到肠道内特异性的大麻化学成份的受体。

[00:32.36]That last step in the cascade ramped up the production of cells that damp down inflammation in the mice - 这个级联反应的最后一步增加了可使小鼠炎症减弱的细胞的生成

[00:38.23]and even cured them of a mouse model of diabetes type 1, an autoimmune disease.甚至还治愈了一个有一型糖尿病的模型鼠身上的某种自体免疫性疾病。

[00:42.46]If all this sounds a bit similar to the chemical messaging 如果所有这些过程听上去有点和大脑中发生的化学信息传递相似的话，

[00:46.32]that happens in the brain that's because it is. 那是因为他们就是那样子的。

[00:48.18]The gut has a very large nervous system. 肠道有一个非常庞大的神经系统。

[00:51.18]It's almost as large as the brain itself. 几乎和大脑一般大。

[00:55.44]Pramod Srivastava, an immunologist at UConn Health and one of the study's leaders. 这是Pramod Srivastava， UConn Health的一位自体免疫学家，同时也是这项研究的参与者。

[00:59.49]We don't quite fully understand what this huge amount of neurons are doing in the gut. 我们还并不十分清楚这样大量的神经元在肠道内在干什么。

[01:05.19]We don't understand its language, and the molecules and mediators. 我们还不了解它们之间沟通的语言，以及参与的分子和媒介物质。

[01:09.45]And I think with this work we can at least claim to have found a couple of words in that language. 我认为跟据我们这项研究工作，我们至少能说我们已经发现了它们沟通上的一些词汇。

[01:19.28]The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.但 该研究已经发表在《美国国家科学研究进展》杂志上。

[01:21.45]So to recap that chemical chain: 那么重申一下这个化学反应链：

[01:24.05]chilies cause the production of endocannabinoids, 辣椒引起内源性大麻素的生成，

[01:27.10]which produce immune suppressant cells, 进而促使免疫抑制细胞增多

[01:30.74]which soothe inflammation. 从而缓解炎症。

[01:31.68]So, what if you cut out the chili initiator, 所以，要是你切断辣椒这个发起者而直接吃大麻素

[01:33.97]and just eat cannabinoids - pot brownies, stuff like that?比如说巧克力火锅，类似的东西，那会怎样呢?

[01:36.87]Obviously we are very interested in people who use edible cannabinoids. 很明显我们对于吃过可食用大麻素的人们很感兴趣。

[01:40.92]And I'm extremely curious if people with colitis 我十分好奇的是，如果人们患有大肠炎

[01:45.33]for example or Crohn's disease or things of that sort, 或者克罗恩氏病的话

[01:48.06]who are edible pot users for example, do they benefit from it? 他们又常吃大麻布朗尼蛋糕比如说，他们的症状会因此改善么?

[01:55.01]I have no idea. 我不知道。

[01:55.74]But something that we can now find out 可是有些事情我们现在已经可以去发现，

[01:56.87]because sizable numbers of people are consuming those edibles.因为很多人现在常吃那些食物了。