Fine structure of degenerating tast buds after denervation.

It is well known that taste buds are dependent on an intact nerve supply, and when experimentally denervated they degenerate and disappear (von Vintschgau & Honigschmied, 1877; von Vintschgau, 1880; Griffini, 1887; Meyer, 1897; Olmsted, 1920a, b, 1921, 1922; May, 1925; Whiteside, 1927; Torrey, 1934, 1936; Wagner, 1953; Guth, 1957, 1958, 1963; Beidler, 1962, 1963). Olmsted (19206) has suggested that the degenerating taste bud cells are cleared away by macrophages invading the epithelium; Guth (1957, 1958, 1963) has demonstrated sloughing of degenerating taste buds from the epithelial surface, and others believe that taste bud cells dedifferentiate to become lining epithelium (Meyer, 1897; Wagner, 1953). Because of this disagreement and because recent evidence for cell turnover in taste buds has indicated that cell death and replacement is a normal occurrence (Beidler, 1962, 1963; DeLorenzo, 1963; Beidler & Smallman, 1965), it is pertinent to study the fine structure of degenerating taste buds in the hope of elucidating the process by which taste bud cells and nerve terminals degenerate.