Chemical Senses 1 (Taste) Flashcards
These differ for each taste
Threshold levels needed for response
Gustatory nucleus neurons communicate with the VPM of the thalamus which projects here
Primary gustatory cortex
The two mechanisms for salt detection
Amiloride sensitive and amiloride insensitive
This inhibits sweet sensitivity
Leptin
These tests sweeter than sucrose (table sugar)
Proteins, aspartame
Many animals systems (cats, fish, salamanders, mice, and rats) were used to study this
Taste
These synapse onto basal cells via electrical and chemical synapses
Taste receptor cells
These enhance sweet sensitivity
Endocannabinoids
These are mostly sensitive to one taste
Taste cells
These are thought to be stem cells to replace taste cells
Basal cells
Neurons that send taste info to the brain
Gustatory afferent neurons (sensory)
Low salt (10-150 mM) tastes this way
Good
What tastes do we like/dislike?
Like sweet, dislike bitter
Just like sweet and bitter, this activates a second messenger system (GPCR)
Umami
Mutations in this affects the vestibular system
OTOP1
These affect the taste of salts in the amiloride insensitive mechanism
Anions
These neurons penetrate taste buds
Sensory gustatory neurons
These lead to the medulla, thalamus, and cortex
Gustatory axons
This is released in salt detection
5HT
Some taste cells only express bitter receptors and have some communication to these
Gustatory axons
Has a low pH and type III presynaptic cells respond to it
Sour
In type II cells, sweet, bitter, and umami tastants do this
Active second messenger systems which interact with ion channels and lead to NT release
This declines with age
Gustatory sensitivity
What are taste receptors likely doing all over the body?
Gathering info about some sugar produced by a bacteria or something that shouldn’t be there
What are the 5 tastes?
Sweet, salt, bitter, sour. umami
These stick out from the taste receptor cell into the taste pore to be exposed to tastants
Microvilli
Taste sour bc of proton detection
Acids
This taste uses T1R1+T1R3 receptors (type II)
Umami
These detect many molecules and structures
Taste receptors
Detect environment, signals integrated in orbitofrontal and other cortical areas
Taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction)
When are labeled lines and population coding seen in neural coding of taste?
Labeled lines at the beginning with taste cells and axons being specific to one but pop coding seen later in the cortex
This is both salty and bitter
K
Sweet receptors
T1R3
Channels are open all the time to depolarize the cell during this taste detection
Salt
Most taste reception is here
Tongue
Influences many feeding behaviors (vomiting, swallowing, digestion, breathing), mediated by other areas of the brain such as the medulla and hypothalamus
Taste info
How many taste buds are there on average? Whats the range?
2000-5000 avg. 500-20000 range
How often is taste cell sensitivity to one of the five tastes replaced?
Every 10-14 days
Rich in proteins/amino acids. Delicious, MSG or glutamate, nucleotides
Umami
How do the thresholds for salt/sweet compare to those for bitter (how do the sensitivities compare)?
High threshold for salt/sweet, low for bitter. (Bitter is in uM while salt/sweet is in mM)
Uses a combination of labeled lines (one responds to one) and population coding (one responds to many, many respond to one)
Taste neural coding
Many poisons are this taste
Bitter