Developmental changes in neurophysiological taste responses from the medulla in sheep.

To determine whether functional characteristics of the taste system change during development, electrophysiological taste responses were recorded from neurons in the solitary complex (nucleus and tractus solitarius) in the medulla of fetal, newborn and adult sheep. Taste stimuli included NH4Cl, KCl, NaCl, LiCl, citric acid, and HCl, applied to the anterior tongue. Fetal neurons at all ages (84-137 days of gestation) responded to stimulation of the tongue with NH4Cl and KCl, but responses to NaCl and LiCl were only obtained in older fetuses (after 114 days of gestation), lambs and adults. Responses to citric aicd were obtained at all ages; however, HCl responses were only infrequently obtained in young fetuses. Other developmental changes included a progressive decrease in latency of the responses to NH4Cl, KCl, citric acid and HCl, and an increase in the duration of the neural response discharge as a function of gestational age. Since taste buds do not acquire the structural characteristics of the adult until the last third of gestation (approximately 100-147 days), these functional changes in taste response characteristics take place concurrently with structural development. Mammalian fetuses swallow amniotic fluid in utero, and, therefore, the fetal taste system is stimulated during structural and functional development. Thus, there is an opportunity for fetal gustatory experience to influence the developing taste system.