Recent studies suggest that l-glutamate may be an efferent transmitter released from axons innervating taste buds. In this report, we determined the types of ionotropic synaptic glutamate receptors present on taste cells and that underlie this postulated efferent transmission. We also studied what effect glutamate exerts on taste bud function. We isolated mouse taste buds and taste cells, condu...

Recent studies on how peripheral taste organs function have revealed a number of intriguing membrane mechanisms underlying taste transduction. The story is still evolving, but certain generalities can now be stated confidently. For example, there is no one single chemosensory membrane transduction event. Instead, the different taste qualities--sweet, sour, salty, bitter--are subserved by differ...

Abstract Taste perception plays a key role in determining individual food preferences and dietary habits. Individual differences in bitter, sweet, umami, sour, or salty taste perception may influence dietary habits, affecting nutritional status and nutrition-related chronic disease risk. In addition to these traditional taste modalities there is growing evidence that "fat taste" may represent a...

BACKGROUND Gustatory dysfunction associated with vestibular schwannomas (VS) is a poorly represented clinical presentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred and forty-nine cases operated from 1997 to 2005 where at least six-month follow-up was available were included. All patients were tested for taste sensations using four modalities of standard taste solutions. Apart from the taste sensati...

The palatal region of the oral cavity in rodents houses 100-300 taste buds and is particularly sensitive to sweet and umami compounds; yet, few studies have examined the expression patterns of transduction-related molecules in this taste field. We investigated the interrelationships between members of the T1R family and between each T1R and gustducin in palatal taste buds. Similar to lingual ta...

Sensory systems define an animal's capacity for perception and can evolve to promote survival in new environmental niches. We have uncovered a noncanonical mechanism for sweet taste perception that evolved in hummingbirds since their divergence from insectivorous swifts, their closest relatives. We observed the widespread absence in birds of an essential subunit (T1R2) of the only known vertebr...

Taste disorders are distressing for patients. They can also pose a serious threat to the health of older and more vulnerable patients, who can become malnourished through a loss of taste or changes in taste perception. Despite the profound impact of taste changes on health, the literature on their diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment is sparse. Taste changes, including the experience of unexpl...

The sensory organs for taste in chickens (Gallus sp.) are taste buds in the oral epithelium of the palate, base of the oral cavity, and posterior tongue. Although there is not a pan-taste cell marker that labels all chicken taste bud cells, α-Gustducin and Vimentin each label a subpopulation of taste bud cells. In the present study, we used both α-Gustducin and Vimentin to further characterize ...

BACKGROUND There is some research on taste disorder/hyposensitivity in special groups such as the elderly or patients presenting with specific taste problems, however few studies have been conducted among young populations. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of taste hyposensitivity and to investigate the relationship between taste hyposensitivity and oral health statu...

Although it has been long accepted that innervation by a taste nerve is essential for maintenance of taste buds, it is not clear what role, if any, innervation plays in the morphogenesis of taste papillae and taste bud development. The following study was undertaken to determine what effects lack of sensory innervation have on the development of taste papillae and the formation of taste buds in...