Chapter 8 Chemical sences

Question 1

taste is called

Answer 1

gustation

Question 2

olfaction is called

Answer 2

smell

Question 3

chemically sensitive cells are called

Answer 3

chemoreceptors

Question 4

chemoreceptors

Answer 4

distributed throughout the body. Reports subconsciously and consciously about our internal state.
e.g. nerve endings in digestive organs, receptors in ateries, sensory endings in muscles.

Question 5

Gustation ja oflaction have strong direct connections to

Answer 5

basic internal needs: thirst, hunger, sex and certain forms of memory.

Question 6

Five taste qualities

Answer 6

saltiness, sourness, sweetness(sugar, artificial sweeteners, proteins), bitterness(K+ ions Mg2+) and umami (taste of glutamate)

Question 7

Why is sensitive and versatile taste necessary

Answer 7

To distinguish between sources of food and toxins

Question 8

How do we perceive the countless flavors of food?

Answer 8

taste, smell and its feel (texture and temperature) occurring simultaneously.

Question 9

Tell which part of tongue is responsible for certain flavor

Answer 9

Tip: sweetness
back: bitterness
sides: saltiness and sourness
Most of tongue is sensitive to all basic tastes

Question 10

Parts of mouth involded in taste:

Answer 10

tongue, palate(kitalaki), pharynx(nielu), epiglottis(kurkunkansi).

Question 11

Surface of the tongue

Answer 11

small projections called papillae, each has 1-100 taste buds, each bud has 50-150 taste receptor cells. Also taste buds have basal cells which surround the taste cells, and gustatory afferent axons.

Question 12

threshold concentration

Answer 12

concentrations too low will not be tasted, but at some critical concentration, the stimulus will evoke a perception of taste.

Question 13

apical end, microvilli

Answer 13

region which is chemically sensitive part of a taste receptor cell, near the surface of the tongue. Microvilli is a thin extension that project into the taste pore, where the taste cell is exposed to the contents of the mouth.

Question 14

receptor potential

Answer 14

appropriate chemical activates a taste receptor cell and its membrane potential chances. It causes voltage-gated calcium channel to open, triggering the release of transmitters (which depend on the taste receptor type)

Question 15

Transduction

Answer 15

environmental stimulus causes an electrical response in a sensory receptor cell. The nervous system have myriad transduction mechanisms that make it sensitive chemicals, pressures, sounds and light.

Question 16

Transduction mechanisms of salt and sour

Answer 16

Tastants can iteract directly with ion channels either by passing through them (Na+ and H+) or blocking them (H+ blocking the potassium channel). Influences the Ca2+ and transmitter release, serotonin.

Question 17

Taste receptor proteins

Answer 17

About 25 types of bitter receptors, T2R proteins. Bitter receptors are dimers consisting of two different T2R receptors.
One type of sweet receptor, formed of T1R2 and T1R3.
One type of umami receptor, formed of T1R1 and T1R3.

Question 18

Why don’t we confuse bitter and sweet chemicals?

Answer 18

They connect to different gustatory axon and their receptors are expressed in different taste cells.

Question 19

Transduction mechanisms of bitter, sweet and umami.

Answer 19

Tastants bind directly to the G-protein-coupled taste receptor,
which activates phospholipase C,
which increases the synthesis of IP3.
IP3 triggers the release of Ca2+ from internal storage sites,
which opens taste-specific ion channel, leading to depolarization andtransmitter release.
Main transmitter is ATP, which is released from the taste cell by diffusing through ATP permeable channels.

Question 20

Central taste pathways

Answer 20

By three cranialnerves(aivohermo) (VII, IX, X) to the medulla.

1) Gustatory axons enter the gustatory nucleus within the medulla.
2) Gustatory nucleus axons synapse on neurons of the thalamus. (VPM=Ventral posterior medial)
3) They project to the primary gustatory cortex in regions of post central gyrus and insular cortex.

Question 21

ageusia

Answer 21

Loss of taste perception

Question 22

Localized lesions of hypothalamus or amygdala can cause

Answer 22

an animal to either chronically overeat or ignore food, or alter its preferences for food types.

Question 23

Pheromone

Answer 23

important signals for reproductive behaviors, identify individuals and indicate aggression or submission. Well developed in many animals.

Question 24

Olfactory epithelium

Answer 24

three main cell types:
olfactory receptor cells
-sites of transduction
-genuine neurons, with axons of their own
supporting cells
-similar to glia, help producing mucus
basal cells
-source of new receptor cells (cycle that lasts about 4-8 weeks)

Question 25

Odorants

Answer 25

Chemical stimuli, which dissolves in the mucus layer before reaching receptor cells.

Question 26

mucus consists

Answer 26

water base, dissolved mucopolysaccharides, proteins (antibodies(vasta-aine), enzymes, odorant binding proteins, Also important are odorant binding proteins, which are small and soluble and which may help concentrate odorants in the mucus. ).

Question 27

olfactory receptor neuron

Answer 27

single thin dendrite that end with a single knob atthe surface of the epithelium - within a mucus layer are several long thin cilia - opposite site of the receptor cell is a thin unmyelinated axon= constitute olcafactory nerve (cranial(kalloon liittyvä) nerve I)

Question 28

How do olcafactory nerves (cranial(kalloon liittyvä) nerve I) form after leaving the epithelium?

Answer 28

The olfactory axons do not all come together as a single nerve bundle, as other cranial nerves. -Small clusters of axons penetrate a thin sheet of bone called cribriform plate, then course into olfactory bulb.

Question 29

Olfactory transduction

Answer 29

Oborants->Bind to odorant receptor proteins->Stimulate G-protein->Activate adenylyl cyclase->Form cAMP->Bind cAMP to cyclic nucleotidi-gated cation channel->open cation channels(Na+ Ca2+)->Open Ca2+ activated Cl- channels->cause current flow and membrane depolarization. (the internal Cl- consentration must be unusually high so that Cl- depolarizes the membrane)

Question 30

Olfactory signaling pathway has two unusual features:

Answer 30

receptor binding proteins and cAMP-gated channels

Question 31

How many odorant receptors human have

Answer 31

350 (odorant receptor genes comprise about 3-5% of the entire mammalian genome which is a huge amount)

Question 32

tell about odorant receptor genes

Answer 32

- each gene has a unique structure, allowing the receptor proteins to bind different odorants. - each receptor cell seems to express very few of many types of receptor genes

Question 33

Olfactory receptor proteins

Answer 33

- G-protein-coupled - seven membrane-spanning alpha helices - include variety of neurotransmitter receptors

Question 34

cAMP-gated channels

Answer 34

channels in the cilia of olfactory cells respond directly to cAMP, they are cAMP-gated.

Question 35

glomerulus

Answer 35

-each bulb contains spherical structures, each about 50–200 um in diameter. -Each glomerulus receives receptor axons from a large region of the olfactory epithelium

Question 36

How does the information get to olfactory cortex and related temporal lobe structures

Answer 36

This anatomy makes olfaction unique. All other sensory systems first pass information through the thalamus before projecting it to the cerebral cortex. The olfactory arrangement produces an unusually direct and widespread influence on the parts of the forebrain that have roles in odor discrimination, emotion, motivation, and certain kinds of memory

Question 37

Where is the conscious perceptions of smell

Answer 37

Conscious perceptions of smell may be mediated by a path from the olfactory tubercle, to the medial dorsal nucleus of the thalamus, and to the orbitofrontal cortex

Question 38

when we smell those same chemicals, we can easily tell them apart. How is the whole brain doing what single olfactory cells cannot?

Answer 38

(1) Each odor is represented by the activity of a large population of neurons; (2) the neurons responsive to particular odors may be organized into spatial maps; and (3) the timing of action potentials may be an essential code for particular odors.

Question 39

How do the receptor neurons form their way to the glomeruli?

Answer 39

Each glomerulus receives input only from receptor cells expressing a particular receptor protein gene.

Question 40

Most tastes involve some combination of the five basic tastes. What other sensory factors can help define the specific perceptions associated with a particular food?

Answer 40

smell and its feel (texture and temperature) occurring simultaneously.

Question 41

The transduction of saltiness is accomplished, in part, by a Na-permeable channel. Why would a sugar-permeable membrane channel be a poor mechanism for the transduction of sweetness?

Answer 41

sugars are the least sweet of all of these; gram for gram, the artificial sweeteners and proteins are 10,000– 100,000 times sweeter than sucrose.

Question 42

Chemicals that have sweet, bitter, and umami tastes all activate precisely the same intracellular signaling molecules. Given this fact, can you explain how the nervous system can distinguish the tastes of sugars, alkaloids, and amino acids?

Answer 42

Their receptor proteins are expressed in different taste cells. They connect to different gustatory axons. The activity of different gustatory axons reflects the chemical sensitivities of the taste cells that drive them, so the messages about sweetness, umami and bitterness are delivered to the central nervous system along different transmission lines.

Question 43

Why would the size of an animal’s olfactory epithelium (and consequently the number of receptor cells) be related to its olfactory acuity?

Answer 43

Each receptor gene has a unique structue, allowing the receptor proteins encoded bt these genes to bind different odorants. So more receptors in the epithelium enable more different oronts to be detected.

Question 44

If the olfactory system does use some kind of spatial mapping to encode specific odors, how might the rest of the brain read the map?

Answer 44

With practice and very specialized goggles, we might be able to read the “alphabet” of odors mapped on the surface of the olfactory bulb with our eyes. This may roughly approximate what higher regions of the olfactory system do.