Trpm5 and alpha-gustducin are key to the transduction of tastes of sugars, amino acids, and bitter compounds. This study investigated the role of these signaling proteins in the preference for fat, starch, and starch-derived polysaccharides (Polycose), using Trpm5 knockout (Trpm5 KO) and alpha-gustducin knockout (Gust KO) mice. In initial two-bottle tests (24 h/day), Trpm5 KO mice showed no pre...

The aim of this study was to determine if taste interactions occur when bitter stimuli are mixed. Eight bitter stimuli were employed: denatonium benzoate (DB), quinine-HCl (QHCl), sucrose octaacetate (SOA), urea, L-tryptophan (L-trp), L-phenylalanine (L-phe), ranitidine-HCl, and Tetralone. The first experiment constructed individual psychophysical curves for each subject (n = 19) for each compo...

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), a commonly consumed vegetable is used as an adjunct in the management of diabetes mellitus. A study was carried out to examine the effect of edible portion of bitter gourd at 10% level in the diet in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. To evaluate the glycaemic control of bitter gourd during diabetes, diet intake, gain in body weight, water intake, urine su...

From the medicinal species Lavender, inflorescences (Flores SpicaeLavandulae), with a pleasant, characteristic smell, notes of freshness, are used for therapeutic purposes. The active principle lavender flowers is volatile oil, content which differs depending on species, variety, time harvest or form conditioning. Fresh contain up to 0.8% and dried ones 1.5%. Lavender have high linalool (a terp...

The gustatory system of animals is involved in food quality assessment and controls the feeding decision of an individual confronted with a potential alimentary source. Triatomines are haematophagous insects that feed on vertebrate blood. Once they reach a potential host, they walk over the host skin searching for an adequate site to pierce. Then, they insert their stylets and take a first samp...

Background and Objectives: The chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) leaf, ripe and unripe peel essential oils, cultivated in southwest of Iran, were investigated. Materials and Methods: The analysis of chemical composition of hydro-distilled essential oils was carried out by GC-MS. The disc diffusion and broth micro-dilution were used to assay t...

ions and is widely used to determine the activity and concentration of hydrogen ions. Metal ion-selective electrodes, such as potassium ions and calcium ions, are also commercially available. Drug ion selective electrodes are prepared and are used to determine the concentrations of drug ions. Other applications of drug ion electrodes include studies of protein binding of drug ions, mechanisms o...

Bitter taste receptors and signaling molecules, which detect bitter taste in the mouth, are expressed in the gut mucosa. In this study, we tested whether two distinct bitter taste receptors, the bitter taste receptor 138 (T2R138), selectively activated by isothiocyanates, and the broadly tuned bitter taste receptor 108 (T2R108) are regulated by luminal content. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis show...