Figure 6. Capsaicin sensitizes neurons innervating oral mucosa to warm stimuli.

A, heat map showing responses from trigeminal neurons (n = 107) to warm (41–42°C) artificial saliva, applied twice for 10 s each, before and following a 10 s lavage with 100 μm capsaicin (cap, 32°C). Note the increase in number of warm‐responding neurons and amplitudes of responses after capsaicin. B and C, summary of data from 3 mice (257 neurons) as in A, presented as before/after plots. Each symbol shows the data from one animal, viz. the mean of 2 presentations of artificial saliva (41–42 °C) before and after capsaicin. Error bars show means ± SD.