In the adult mouse tongue, an average of 11% of the gustatory receptor cells are replaced each day. In investigating homeostatic cell death mechanisms in gustatory renewing epithelium, we observed that taste receptor cells were selectively immunopositive for the bcl-2 family death factor, Bax, and for the protease Caspase-2 (Nedd2/Ich1). We determined that 8-10% of the taste receptor cells of t...

Except for taste bud cells, all sensory receptor cells and neurons have been shown to originate from neurogenic ectoderm (i.e., neural tube, neural crest, or ectodermal placodes). Descriptive studies on taste buds indicate that they, however, may arise from local epithelium. To determine whether taste receptor cells originate from neurogenic ectoderm or from local epithelium, the tongues of X c...

The sweet taste receptor is expressed in taste cells located in taste buds of the tongue. This receptor senses sweet substances in the oral cavity, activates taste cells, and transmits the taste signals to adjacent neurons. The sweet taste receptor is a heterodimer of two G protein-coupled receptors, T1R2 and T1R3. Recent studies have shown that this receptor is also expressed in the extragusta...

Sensory issues are widely reported in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC). Since taste perception is one of the least studied senses in ASC we explored taste identification in adults with ASC (12 males, 11 females) compared to control participants (14 males, 12 females). 'Taste strips' were used to measure taste identification overall, as well as bitter, sour, sweet and salty tastes. Results revea...

Taste alteration is a frequent and significant problem for patients with cancer. Taste alterations are defined as changes in the usual patterns of taste perception that are unique to the person experiencing the changes (Bender, 1999). Taste alterations may occur as a result of the cancer itself, treatment of the cancer, or other social and emotional factors. Alterations in taste are not a life-...

An amiloride-insensitive (AI) salt taste receptor is the predominant transducer of Na+ taste in some mammalian species. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to characterize the AI-salt taste receptor. The AI-salt taste receptor in rat and mouse fungiform taste receptor cells (TRCs) was activated by the vanilloid receptor-1 (VR-1) agonists, resiniferatoxin (RTX), capsiacin (CAP) and elev...

more intelligible parts deal, vividly at times, with exchanges between people. A number of passages show valuable insight and at times the author writes clearly, simply and with great power. At other times the content evades understanding; or else it consists of poetic sequences of words. Consider the following: 'My selfbeing, my consciousness and feeling of myself, that taste of myself, of I a...

THE SENSE OF TASTE IS CRITICAL for the decision to ingest or reject the contents of the oral cavity. The functional unit of the taste system is the taste bud, an onion-shaped structure containing 100 taste cells. The taste sensation is initiated when tastants, for example, a molecule of sucrose, bind to and activate taste receptors expressed at the surface of microvilli at the apical side of th...

Taste buds mature postnatally in the vallate papilla of the rat and reach a mean number of 610 by day 90. Although taste buds are neurotrophically dependent, the presence of widespread bilateral innervation permits more than 80% of the 610 vallate taste buds to survive after one IXth nerve is removed in adults. However, after a IXth nerve is removed at 0-3 d postpartum, about two-thirds of the ...

Growth factors regulate cell growth and differentiation in many tissues. In the taste system, as yet unknown growth factors are produced by neurons to maintain taste buds. A number of growth factor receptors are expressed at greater levels in taste buds than in the surrounding epithelium and may be receptors for candidate factors involved in taste bud maintenance. We determined that the ligands...