Understanding taste processing in the nervous system is a fundamental challenge of modern neuroscience. Recent research on the neural bases of taste coding in invertebrates and vertebrates allows discussion of whether labelled-line or across-fibre pattern encoding applies to taste perception. While the former posits that each gustatory receptor responds to one stimulus or a very limited range o...

Continuous taste bud cell renewal is essential to maintain taste function in adults; however, the molecular mechanisms that regulate taste cell turnover are unknown. Using inducible Cre-lox technology, we show that activation of β-catenin signaling in multipotent lingual epithelial progenitors outside of taste buds diverts daughter cells from a general epithelial to a taste bud fate. Moreover, ...

Taste is a property that is thought to potentially modulate swallowing behavior. Whether such effects depend on taste, intensity remains unclear. This study explored differences in the amplitudes of tongue-palate pressures in swallowing as a function of taste stimulus concentration. Tongue-palate pressures were collected in 80 healthy women, in two age groups (under 40, over 60), stratified by ...

All or nearly all intragemmal (elongated) cells of rat taste buds were immunopositive for keratins 7, 8, and 19. In contrast, keratin 18 was detected in 19 +/- 5 cells per taste bud (mean +/- sd), or about 25% of the intragemmal cells. During taste bud development keratins 7, 8, and 19 were evident initially in polygonal cells and later in elongated taste cells. Keratin 8 appeared in vallate ta...

Leptin is a hormone that regulates body weight homeostasis mainly via the hypothalamic functional leptin receptor Ob-Rb. Recently, we proposed that the taste organ is a new peripheral target for leptin. Leptin selectively inhibits mouse taste cell responses to sweet substances and thereby may act as a sweet taste modulator. The present study further investigated leptin action on the taste syste...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS The purpose of this study was to validate the use of edible taste strips for measuring taste recognition thresholds for the bitter-tasting compound 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). STUDY DESIGN Taste recognition thresholds for PROP were obtained by two separate methods. Thresholds were also identified in subjects whose airflow through the nose was blocked. Threshold values w...

Protonated organic acid species have been shown to be the primary stimuli responsible for sour taste of organic acids. However, we have observed that sour taste may be modulated when the pH of acid solutions is raised using sodium hydroxide. Objectives were to evaluate the effect of pH adjustment on sour taste of equimolar protonated organic acid solutions and to investigate the potential roles...

The administration of thiol-containing drugs decreases taste acuity in man and animals. Copper (II) and zine (II) administration returns taste acuity to normal levels. The results suggest that (1) thiols and metals are in dynamic equilibrium in the metabolic net, (2) regulation of taste acuity occurs through changes which thiols and/or metals bring about in the conformation of a protein which l...

Taste sensitivity to Phenyl-thio-Carbamide (PTC) and glucose were studied in 150 females during the 3 trimesters of their pregnancy periods. The taste sensitivity to PTC was determined by Harris and Kalmus method. For taste intensity and hedonic evaluation, 7 concentrations of glucose solutions were used. Taste sensitivity to both PTC and glucose increases during the 1st trimester of pregnancy....

Taste buds are clusters of polarized sensory cells embedded in stratified oral epithelium. In adult mammals, taste buds turn over continuously and are replenished through the birth of new cells in the basal layer of the surrounding non-sensory epithelium. The half-life of cells in mammalian taste buds has been estimated as 8-12 days on average. Yet, earlier studies did not address whether the n...