Taste preference, a key component of food choice, changes with aging. However, it remains unclear how this occurs. To determine differences in taste preference between rats in different life stages, we examined the consumption of taste solutions and water using a two-bottle test. Male Sprague-Dawley rats of different ages were used: juvenile (3-6 weeks), young adult (8-11 weeks), adult (17-20 w...

Genetic ablation of calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1), which releases adenosine triphosphate from Type 2 taste cells, severely compromises the behavioral and electrophysiological responses to tastes detected by G protein-coupled receptors, such as sweet and bitter. However, the contribution of CALHM1 to salty taste perception is less clear. Here, we evaluated several salty taste-related ...

Sour and salt taste interactions are not well understood in the peripheral gustatory system. Therefore, we investigated the interaction of acetic acid and NaCl on taste processing by rat chorda tympani neurons. We recorded multi-unit responses from the severed chorda tympani nerve (CT) and single-cell responses from intact narrowly tuned and broadly tuned salt-sensitive neurons in the geniculat...

There are reports on hypoesthesia and anesthesia in taste sensation persisting for several months or even years after dental anesthesia, pulpectomy and tooth extraction. Taste disorders following dental treatments are usually attributed to peripheral injury of taste (the chorda tympani) nerve fibers running with the lingual nerve fibers near the mandibular molars. 2 However, taste impairment in...

Fischer-344 (F-344) rats differ from other common rat strains in that they fail to show any preference for NaCl at any concentration in two-bottle preference tests. Because 100 microM amiloride partially blocks the NaCl-evoked chorda tympani (CT) response in electrophysiological studies, we tested NaCl preference (0.068-0.273 M) in F-344 rats with and without 100 microM amiloride solution as th...

Some apparatuses stimulating the region of tongue innervated by chorda tympani nerve were well known and they were used popularly, but the apparatuses for glossopharyngeal nerve were not produced yet. In the study, the apparatus for the stimulations of glossopharyngeal nerve was trially produced. It was known that the substance of "Umami" was responded well in the tongue region innervated by gl...

There is uncertainty about the relationship between plasma leptin and sweet taste in mice. Whereas 2 studies have reported that elevations in plasma leptin diminish responsiveness to sweeteners, another found that they enhanced responsiveness to sucrose. We evaluated the impact of plasma leptin on sweet taste in C57BL/6J (B6) and leptin-deficient ob/ob mice. Although mice expressed the long-for...