Abstract
Current understanding of functional characteristics and biochemical pathways in taste bud cells have been hindered due the lack of long-term cultured cells. To address this, we developed a holistic approach to fully characterise long term cultured bovine taste bud cells (BTBCs). Initially, cultured BTBCs were characterised using RT-PCR gene expression profiling, immunocytochemistry, flowcytometry and calcium imaging, that confirmed the cells were mature TBCs that express taste receptor genes, taste specific protein markers and capable of responding to taste stimuli, i.e., denatonium (2 mM) and quinine (462.30 μM). Gene expression analysis of forty-two genes implicated in taste transduction pathway (map04742) using custom-made RT-qPCR array revealed high and low expressed genes in BTBCs. Preliminary datamining and bioinformatics demonstrated that the bovine α-gustducin, gustatory G-protein, have higher sequence similarity to the human orthologue compared to rodents. Therefore, results from this work will replace animal experimentation and provide surrogate cell-based throughput system to study human taste transduction.
Highlights
IntroductionFood substances (or taste chemicals) activate specialised sensory cells of the taste bud cells (TBCs) which convey taste signals to the brain
Sense of taste has the most important role in food choice and eating habits
The current study aims to develop fully characterised long-term cell culture lines from bovine taste bud cells (BTBC)
Summary
Food substances (or taste chemicals) activate specialised sensory cells of the taste bud cells (TBCs) which convey taste signals to the brain. This signal is decoded in the brain to distinguish the taste type and intensity; and this taste perception has a key role in guiding nutrition consumption, avoiding toxic substances and maintenance of a healthy diet [1]. Taste bud cells (TBC) are specialised epithelial cells in the oral cavity; they are grouped as neuroepithelial cells given their sensory role and ability to communicate through release of several neurotransmitters (e.g., ATP, serotonin, glutamate and GABA). Studies were performed in explant taste buds, slices of lingual tissue and intact taste buds [2,3,4,5,6] or heterogeneous expressing systems using HEK293T cells [7,8,9,10]
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