Past studies suggest that phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) taste status is related to vulnerability to depression, such that those sensitive to PTC are more vulnerable. We questioned this, reasoning that those insensitive to PTC may be more vulnerable (because they may have lower hedonic tone and higher risk for alcohol abuse). Forty-two volunteers responded to questionnaires regarding family history ...

Bitterness perception in mammals is mostly directed at natural toxins that induce innate avoidance behaviours. Bitter taste is mediated by the G protein-coupled receptor TAS2R, which is located in taste cell membranes. One of the best-studied bitter taste receptors is TAS2R38, which recognizes phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). Here we investigate the sensitivities of TAS2R38 receptors to PTC in four s...

The inability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC; "taste-blindness") has been associated with a number of medical and neurological illnesses not typically related to taste. We examined PTC sensitivity in 67 schizophrenia patients, 30 healthy controls, and 30 first-degree relatives to determine whether taster status could represent a simple vulnerability marker. A higher prevalence of non-tasters...

Past research associating phenylthiocarbamide/propylthiouracil (PTC/PROP) taste status with alcoholism has produced equivocal results. Some have found higher proportions of nontasters among those with a family history of alcoholism than controls, whereas others have not. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between PTC taste status, alcohol problems, and family history ...

Pedigree segregation analysis was used to examine several one- and two-locus models of the inheritance of phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) taste deficiency that extend the traditional one-locus recessive model by the addition of either another allele or another locus, and in some cases predict two types of nontasters. These models allow nontaster by nontaster matings to produce taster offspring, consi...

Gustatory differences in Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) tasters and non-tasters were studied in hypothyroid and hyperthyroid subjects. After presenting for PTC sensitivity, gustatory responses to 7 dilutions of test solutions for glucose (sweet), sodium chloride (salt), citric acid (sour) and quinine sulphate (bitter) were studied in PTC tasters and non-tasters. The intensity and pleasantness respon...

The G protein-coupled receptor(gpcr)Tas2r38 is a bitter taste receptor that can respond to bitter compounds such as phenylthiocarbamide(PTC) and 6-n-propylthiouracil(PROP).This receptor was chosen because of its haplotypes (based on three residue site polymorphism) htas2r38pav, htas2r38avi are known to have a dramatically different response to ligands ptc and prop. A docking study is performed ...