Mechanism Of Taste Perception Research Articles

Physiology of the tongue with emphasis on taste transduction.

The tongue is a complex multifunctional organ that interacts and senses both interoceptively and exteroceptively. Although it is easily visible to almost all of us, it is relatively understudied and what is in the literature is often contradictory or is not comprehensively reported. The tongue is both a motor and a sensory organ: motor in that it is required for speech and mastication, and sensory in that it receives information to be relayed to the central nervous system pertaining to the safety and quality of the contents of the oral cavity. Additionally, the tongue and its taste apparatus form part of an innate immune surveillance system. For example, loss or alteration in taste perception can be an early indication of infection as became evident during the present global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Here, we particularly emphasize the latest updates in the mechanisms of taste perception, taste bud formation and adult taste bud renewal, and the presence and effects of hormones on taste perception, review the understudied lingual immune system with specific reference to SARS-CoV-2, discuss nascent work on tongue microbiome, as well as address the effect of systemic disease on tongue structure and function, especially in relation to taste.

Insights on modulators in perception of taste modalities: a review.

A major challenge in taste research is to overcome the flavour imperfections in food products and to build nutritious strategies to combat against obesity as well as other related metabolic syndromes. The field of molecular taste research and chemical senses has contributed to an enormous development in understanding the taste receptors and mechanisms of taste perception. Accordingly, the development of taste-modifying compounds or taste modulators that alter the perception of basic taste modalities has gained significant prominence in the recent past. The beneficial aspects of these substances are overwhelming while considering their potential taste-modifying properties. The objective of the present review is to provide an impression about the taste-modulating compounds and their distinctive taste-modifying properties with reference to their targets and proposed mechanisms of action. The present review also makes an effort to discuss the basic mechanism involved in oro-gustatory taste perception as well as on the effector molecules involved in signal transduction downstream to the activation of taste receptors.

A Neural Mechanism of Taste Perception Modulated by Odor Information.

Taste perception is significantly affected by other sensory modalities such as vision, smell, and somatosensation. Such taste sensation elicited by integrating gustatory and other sensory information is referred to as flavor. Although experimental studies have demonstrated the characteristics of flavor perception influenced by other sensory modalities and the involved brain areas, it remains unknown how flavor emerges from the brain circuits. Of the involved brain areas, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), as well as gustatory cortex (GC), plays a dominant role in flavor perception. We develop here a neural model of gustatory system which consists of GC and OFC networks and examine the neural mechanism of odor-induced taste perception. Using the model, we show that flavor perception is shaped by experience-dependent learning of foods with congruent taste-odor pairs, providing a unique representation of flavor through the interaction between OFC and GC neurons. Our model also shows that feedback signals from OFC to GC modulate the dynamic stability of taste attractors in GC, leading to the enhancement or suppression of taste responses by smells. Furthermore, modeling shows that spatial variability in GC activity evoked by tastants determines to what extent odor enhances congruent taste responses. The results suggest that flavor perception is deeply associated with dynamic stability of GC attractors through the interaction between GC and OFC.

Isolation of taste buds from the foliate papillae of the rabbit.

A method to isolate taste buds from the foliate papillae of the rabbit tongue is described. The method comprises (a) separation of the epidermis from the dermal layer after treatment with dilute acetic acid, and (b) mechanical removal of the taste buds from the epithelium with the use of a surgical needle. The procedure yields taste buds that are morphologically well preserved, and in quantities sufficient to enable a detailed biochemical characterization. Preliminary tests have shown the taste buds to have biochemical properties clearly distinct from those of the adjacent epithelium. The method may provide a basis for studying the molecular mechanism of taste perception in greater detail.

Salivary Expression of Taste Response to Chemical Stimulation

The salivary response to application of various concentrations of citric acid to the tongue was examined in 17 individuals. Responses were reproducible and did not appear to alter with the passage of time. The relation between response and stimulant concentration was formally described by Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The technique could be extended to the study of various stimulants and used to explore the mechanism of taste perception in man.

Neural correlates of gustatory intensity and quality.

Neural correlates of gustatory intensity and quality.

Synaptic processing of taste-quality information in the nucleus tractus solitarius of the rate.

Synaptic processing of taste-quality information in the nucleus tractus solitarius of the rate.

Relative sweetness of alpha- and beta-forms of selected sugars.

THE mechanism of taste perception has been approached through work on the relationships between chemical properties of taste stimuli and their resultant taste responses. Ferguson and Lawrence1,2 reported that the D-configurations of leucine, iso-leucine, valine, histidine, tryptophan and asparagine were sweet, whereas the L-forms were not. These authors observed that isomaltose (6-α-D-glucopyranosyl-D-glucose) was sweet, but its anomer, gentiobiose (6 - β - D - glucopyranosyl - D - glucose), was bitter. Cameron3,4 found that a freshly prepared solution of 10 per cent α-D-glucose was definitely sweeter than a 16-hr.-old 10 per cent solution. The magnitude of the response (fourteen evaluations) suggested that the fresh solution had a sweetness equal to or more than that of a 10.5 per cent equilibrium solution.