Nicotine, an alkaloid found in tobacco smoke, has been recognized as capable of inducing changes in taste functionality in conditions of chronic exposure. The mechanisms underlying these sensory alterations, however, are currently unknown. We addressed this issue by studying the long-term effects of nicotine on the anatomical features of taste buds, the peripheral end-organs of taste, in rat fu...

OAKLEY, B. Reformation of taste buds by crossed sensory nervps in the rat’s tongue. Acta physiol. scand. 1970. 79. 88-94. Rat taste buds degenerate and disappear when their nerve supply is cut. Regeneration of the taste nerve fibres causes certain epithelial cells to differentiate into slender receptor cells comprising the taste bud. In this study by cross-union the glossopharyngeal (IXth) nerv...

The role of amiloride-sensitive Na+ channels (ASSCs) in the transduction of salty taste stimuli in rat fungiform taste buds has been well established. Evidence for the involvement of ASSCs in salt transduction in circumvallate and foliate taste buds is, at best, contradictory. In an attempt to resolve this apparent controversy, we have begun to look for functional ASSCs in taste buds isolated f...