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Taste
• common language “taste” describe sensations arising
from the oral cavity
• biological definition of taste, or gustation, is narrower and
includes:
– only sensations mediated by a specialized anatomically and
physiologically defined chemosensory gustatory system
Taste
• along with taste sensations:
• food usually simultaneously evokes other sensations:
– Odor
– Touch
– Temperature
– Irritation
• it’s not always easy to separate all these sensations
perceptually
• the nongustatory components are sensed by different
systems:
– olfaction
– somatosensation
• taste and olfaction:
– among the five senses:
• play crucial roles in the detection of chemical
substances in the environment:
– are referred to as chemical senses
circumvallate papilla
Labelled Lines
• 5 recognised modalities:
– sweet, sour, bitter, salt & umami
– all mature taste bud cells have prominent microvilli
• Taste bud cells:
– are continuously renewed from a local population of
stem cells
– have half-life of about ten days
• Type I "dark" cells:
– are glial (supporting) cells
– also contribute to salty (chloride) tastes
– full salt flavour may also require sodium channels
Labelled Lines
• Sub-populations of type II cells:
– respond to sweet, bitter, umami (glutamate) and
possibly fats
– they release ATP which stimulates purinergic receptors
on:
• type III cells
• also on sensory neurons
• Fats?
– Sweet:
• most common natural sweet taste stimuli are sugars, which indicate the
presence of carbohydrates in food
– Umami:
• (savory; the prototypical stimulus being the amino acid glutamate)
Discovery of Taste Receptors
• Fuller:
– in 1974, using long-term two-bottle tests