How does mint make you cold?

[Helen_Nelander]

I understand why things like pepper and mustard can taste hot–they contain irritants.

What I can’t understand is: How does peppermint make you feel cold? (A scientist on NPR said no one knows. I’m hoping you’re no one.)

[Amfet]

Welcome to the SDMB

Leffingwell

** Physiology of Cooling from materials such as menthol **
The action of menthol and similar coolant compounds on “thermoreceptors” provides the “cool” sensation via cold receptors. In the case of menthol and certain other coolant compounds one can also get a “hot” or stinging “pain” sensation. Menthol can act at high concentrations in much the same way as capsaicin to produce a hot sensation, but in this case, it stimulates the fibers that register both cold temperatures as well as those that respond to warmth. Recently (2001), Gordon Reid & Maria-Luiza Flonta at the University of Bucharest have discovered an inward ionic current that is activated by moderate cooling in a small number of rat sensory neurons. This current has features that are found in intact cold receptors, including sensitization by menthol, adaptation upon sustained cooling, and modulation by calcium, and is likely to be important in cold sensing. Early models indicated that menthol stimulates cold receptors by blocking voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels, leading to a reduction in intracellular Ca2+ and inhibition of Ca2±dependent K+ channels9. However, Reid and others have since discovered that menthol stimulates entry of Ca2+ and increases intracellular Ca2+ concentration in cold-sensitive neurons; thus stimulation of cold receptors by menthol can be explained more simply by sensitization of the cold-induced inward Ca2+ current

Also

In the March 7, 2002 issue of Nature, McKemy, Neuhausser & Julius20 have characterized and cloned a menthol receptor from trigeminal sensory neurons that is also activated by thermal stimuli in the cool to cold range. This cold- and menthol-sensitive receptor, CMR1, is a member of the TRP family of excitatory ion channels, and they propose that it functions as a transducer of cold stimuli in the somatosensory system. These findings, together with their previous identification of the heat-sensitive channels VR1 and VRL-1, demonstrate that TRP channels detect temperatures over a wide range and are the principal sensors of thermal stimuli in the mammalian peripheral nervous system. In Nature 416, 52–58 (7 March 2002).

[Helen_Nelander]

Thank you for the prompt, detailed and excellent reply.