Arecoline, a major alkaloid in areca nuts, is involved in the pathogenesis of oral diseases. Mammalian taste buds are the structural unit for detecting taste stimuli in the oral cavity. The effects of arecoline on taste bud morphology are poorly understood. Arecoline was injected intraperitoneally (IP) into C57BL/6 mice twice daily for 1–4 weeks. After arecoline treatment, the vallate papillae ...

The aim of the present study is to investigate the taste acuity in Japanese young women in relation to their micronutrient status. Thirty-eight healthy young women (mean age; 21.3, range; 19-27 years) were enrolled. Gustatory thresholds were estimated for four basic tastes: sweet (sucrose), salty (sodium chloride), sour (tartaric acid), and bitter (quinine hydrochloride) by a filter-paper disk ...

The question as to whether tactile stimulation alters proximal taste function in humans has never been answered, despite the suggestion of anatomical and physiological associations between somatosensory and gustatory function in a number of species. In this study, we established NaCl detection thresholds for a 25 mm2 anterior tongue region on four test occasions in each of 12 men and 12 women. ...

The early postnatal period represents a time of significant neural development. Neonatal exposure to stressors, environmental toxins, and many different pharmacological agents may have a significant impact on subsequent behavior and cognition in adulthood. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of early administration of the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide, on a battery...

We demonstrate that the NMDA receptor is involved in taste learning in the insular cortex of the behaving rat and describe two facets of this involvement. Blockage of the NMDA receptor in the insular cortex by the reversible antagonist APV during training in a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) paradigm impaired CTA memory, whereas blockage of the NMDA receptor in an adjacent cortex or before a r...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To develop an instrument to assess the specific symptoms of chemotherapy-induced taste alterations. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Two outpatient chemotherapy centers in Kanto, Japan. SAMPLE Convenience sample of 214 adult patients with chemotherapy-induced taste alterations. METHODS Items on the chemotherapy-induced taste alteration scale (CiTAS) were develope...

Adaptive methods provide quick and reliable estimates of sensory sensitivity. Yet, these procedures are typically developed for and applied to the non-chemical senses only, i.e., to vision, audition, and somatosensation. The relatively long inter-stimulus-intervals in gustatory studies, which are required to minimize adaptation and habituation, call for time-efficient threshold estimations. We ...

Copper effects on human health represent a relevant issue in modern nutrition. One of the difficulties in assessing the early, acute effects of copper ingested via drinking water is that the taste of copper may influence the response and the capacity to taste copper in different waters is unknown. The purpose of the study was to determine the taste threshold of copper in different types of wate...