as is common in response to many other sensory stimuli, much experimental evidence exists for the desensitization of human response of trpm8 receptors to menthol. testing involving administration of menthol and nicotine-containing cigarettes non-smokers, which induced what they classified as an irritant response, after initial sensitization, showed a declining response in subjects over time, lending itself to the incidence of desensitization. ethanol, with similar irritant and desensitization properties, was used as a control for nicotine, to distinguish it from menthol-induced response. the menthol receptor was seen to sensitize or desensitize based on cellular conditions, and menthol produces increased activity in ca-voltage gated channels that is not seen in ethanol, cyclohexanol and other irritant controls, suggestive of a specific molecular receptor. dessirier "et al.", 2001, also claim the cross-desensitization of menthol receptors can occur by unknown molecular mechanisms, though they hypothesize the importance of ca2+ in reducing cell excitability in a way similar to that in the capsaicin receptor.