Abstract
Gut microbiota has emerged as a major metabolically active organ with critical functions in both health and disease. The trillions of microorganisms hosted by the gastrointestinal tract are involved in numerous physiological and metabolic processes including modulation of appetite and regulation of energy in the host spanning from periphery to the brain. Indeed, bacteria and their metabolic byproducts are working in concert with the host chemosensory signaling pathways to affect both short- and long-term ingestive behavior. Sensing of nutrients and taste by specialized G protein-coupled receptor cells is important in transmitting food-related signals, optimizing nutrition as well as in prevention and treatment of several diseases, notably obesity, diabetes and associated metabolic disorders. Further, bacteria metabolites interact with specialized receptors cells expressed by gut epithelium leading to taste and appetite response changes to nutrients. This review describes recent advances on the role of gut bacteria in taste perception and functions. It further discusses how intestinal dysbiosis characteristic of several pathological conditions may alter and modulate taste preference and food consumption via changes in taste receptor expression.
Highlights
The human body houses trillions of microbes along its surfaces and cavities
Preservation of taste functions has been shown to depend on an intact gut microbiota [3] disruptions in the gut microbiota composition profile can results in taste changes
Toll-like receptors play a crucial role in sensing the intestinal microbes via recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (MMAPs) that are derived from various microbes, triggering inflammatory and immune responses
Summary
The human body houses trillions of microbes along its surfaces and cavities. The gastrointestinal tract is the main location site that harbors approximately 4 × 1013 microorganisms that include bacteria and fungi, archaea and virus-like particles [1]. Gut microbiota has been termed as the invisible metabolic organ for its important roles in host immunity, gut barrier integrity, metabolism, growth, fermentation of non-digestible complex carbohydrates, xenobiotic and drug metabolism, among other roles These microbial communities, differ significantly along the gastrointestinal tract dependent on environmental variations in pH, oxygen exposure, and nutrient abundance [2]. The focus of this review is to explore the supporting and growing evidence of how oral and intestinal microbial communities influence the host’s taste perception, and in turn, affect eating behavior It further describes how taste receptors respond to changes in gut microbiota composition profile in disease conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, chemotherapy and bariatric surgery
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