The recovery period of the taste responses of rat chorda tympani after application of toothpaste was examined. The response observations of four kinds of essential taste stimuli, 0.1 M sodium chloride, 0.005 M quinine hydrochloride, 1.0 M sucrose, and 0.05 M tartaric acid, were repeated every 2 or 5 minutes. After five observations of summated responses of the chorda tympani with each taste sti...

Recent studies have shown that the T1R3 receptor protein encoded by the Tas1r3 gene is involved in transduction of sweet taste. To assess ligand specificity of the T1R3 receptor, we analyzed the association of Tas1r3 allelic variants with taste responses in mice. In the F2 hybrids between the C57BL/6ByJ (B6) and 129P3/J (129) inbred mouse strains, we determined genotypes of markers on chromosom...

Sensitivities to moderately intense stimuli representing four taste qualities to man were determined for 79 hamster chorda tympani fibers. Some fibers were very sensitive to sucrose, sodium chloride, or hydrochloric acid, but none were very sensitive to quinine. These sensitivities were not randomly distributed among fibers: the sucrose sensitivity was separated from and negatively correlated w...

OBJECTIVES Loss of taste function was studied pre- and postoperatively in patients who underwent myringoplasty. PATIENTS AND METHODS Thirty-two patients who were diagnosed with chronic otitis media and underwent myringoplasty between May 2007 and May 2009 were included in the study. Regional taste test was performed preoperatively and two weeks after the operation in all patients planned to u...

Dietary sodium restriction coupled with axotomy of the rat chorda tympani nerve (CTX) results in selectively attenuated taste responses to sodium salts in the contralateral, intact chorda tympani nerve. Converging evidence indicates that sodium deficiency also diminishes the activated macrophage response to injury on both the sectioned and contralateral, intact sides of the tongue. Because a so...

Leptin receptors are present in taste buds and previous research indicates that leptin administration modified electrophysiological and behavioral responses to sweet taste. It is now known that sweet taste is temperature dependent. We examined the influence of (1) stimulus temperature on chorda tympani (CT) nerve responses to sucrose, saccharin and NH(4)Cl; and (2) leptin administration on CT n...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To evaluate a transcanal approach for placement of a stimulating electrode array in the cochlear nerve. STUDY DESIGN Prospective cadaveric temporal bone study. METHODS Ten human cadaveric temporal bones were dissected. Both a facial recess approach with mastoidectomy and a transcanal approach using the novel technique were performed in each bone. A middle fossa dissect...

We examined the laterality of the human gustatory neural pathway by measuring gustatory-evoked magnetic fields (GEMfs) and demonstrating the activation of the human primary gustatory cortex (PGC). In patients whose chorda tympani nerve had been severed unilaterally on the right side, we stimulated the normal side (i.e., left side) of the chorda tympani nerve with NaCl solution using a device de...

Humans, chimpanzees and all Old World monkeys tested to date are able to taste the sweet compounds acesulfame-K, aspartame, D-tryptophan, sucrose, xylitol, monellin and thaumatin. In humans and chimpanzees, but not in rhesus macaques, gymnemic acid suppresses or abolishes the chorda tympani proper nerve response and the sweet taste of these compounds. This study examines the relationship betwee...