Zhu M, Cho YK, Li C-S. Activation of -opioid receptors reduces excitatory input to putative gustatory cells within the nucleus of the solitary tract. J Neurophysiol 101: 258–268, 2009. First published November 19, 2008; doi:10.1152/jn.90648.2008. The rostral nucleus of the solitary tract (NST) is the first central relay in the gustatory pathway and plays a key role in processing and modulation ...

In contrast to carbohydrates and proteins, which are detected by specialized taste receptors in the forms of their respective building blocks, sugars, and L-amino acids, the third macronutrient, lipids, has until now not been associated with gustatory receptors. Instead, the recognition of fat stimuli was believed to rely mostly on textural, olfactory, and postingestive cues. During the recent ...

Sensory Receptors In article number 2300242, Yunlong Guo, Yunqi Liu, and co-workers report an artificial tactile-gustatory receptor using all-polymer electrochemical transistor. By combining device design microfabrication innovation (172 nm-excimer UV lithography), flexible arrays with unprecedented density are realized, the exhibits excellent mechanical stability. This study moves a step forwa...

BACKGROUND Taste is an important sensory modality in most animals. In Drosophila, taste is perceived by gustatory neurons located in sensilla distributed on several different appendages throughout the body of the animal. Here we show that the gustatory receptors are encoded by a family of at least 54 genes (Gr genes), most of which are expressed exclusively in a small subset of taste sensilla l...

The sense of taste plays an important role in the evaluation of the nutrient composition of consumed food. Bitter taste in particular is believed to serve a warning function against the ingestion of poisonous substances. In the past years enormous progress was made in the characterization of bitter taste receptors, including their gene expression patterns, pharmacological features and presumed ...

In flies, the maxillary palp possesses olfactory sensilla housing olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs), which project to the primary olfactory center, the antennal lobes (ALs). The labellum possesses gustatory sensilla housing gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs), which project to the primary gustatory center, the subesophageal ganglion (SOG). Using an anterograde staining method, we investigated the...

Taste plays a crucial role in the life of honey bees as their survival depends on the collection and intake of nectar and pollen, and other natural products. Here we studied the tarsal taste of honey bees through a series of behavioral and electrophysiological analyses. We characterized responsiveness to various sweet, salty and bitter tastants delivered to gustatory sensilla of the fore tarsi....

BACKGROUND Circadian regulation of chemosensory processes is common in animals, but little is known about how circadian clocks control chemosensory systems or the consequences of rhythms in chemosensory system function. Taste is a major chemosensory gate used to decide whether or not an animal will eat, and the main taste organ in Drosophila, the proboscis, harbors autonomous circadian oscillat...

For all animals, the taste sense is crucial to detect and avoid ingesting toxic molecules. Many toxins are synthesized by plants as a defense mechanism against insect predation. One example of such a natural toxic molecule is L-canavanine, a nonprotein amino acid found in the seeds of many legumes. Whether and how insects are informed that some plants contain L-canavanine remains to be elucidat...

The gustatory responses of the Mongolian gerbil were tested with 12 sugar alcohols. The electrophysiological effectiveness of the linear polyols as gustatory stimulants increased as the length of the carbon chain increased from 2 to 5. Six and 7 carbon acyclic polyols were no more effective than the pentitols. By comparison myoinositol, a cyclic polyol, was more effective in evoking a response....