Exam 4 Flashcards
Taste=
sensations evoked by solutions that contact the tongue and roof of the mouth
○ Salt, sweet, bitter, sour, umami
Flavor=
combination of retronasal olfaction and true taste
Retronasal olfaction=
what comes from your mouth out of your nose; perceiving odors through the mouth while breathing and chewing, giving us the experience of flavor
Be sure to know that modifying the level of tastants (e.g. sugar) or volatile chemicals can modify your perception of flavor
-Tastants (such as sugar, salt, acids, etc.) modify the direct taste perception, while volatile chemicals (smells) contribute to the aroma and flavor experience.
-Altering the concentration of tastants or volatile compounds can drastically change how we perceive the flavor of food.
-Our sense of taste and smell work together to create the overall perception of flavor, and even small changes in one aspect of this can lead to a very different experience of the food or drink.
Taste bud=
a globular cluster of cells that has the function of creating neural signals conveyed to the brain by the taste nerves (in papillae)
Papillae
structures that house the taste buds
Taste receptor cell (taste bud cell)
a cell within the taste bud that contains sites on its apical projections (microvilli) that can interact with taste stimuli
Sites with 2 major categories:
-interacting with charged particles (e.g. sodium and hydrogen ions)
-G protein-coupled receptors that interact with sweet and bitter stimuli
What are the types of papillae?
Filiform papillae
Fungiform papillae
Foliate papillae
Circumvallate papillae
Filiform papillae:
=small structures on the tongue that provide most of its bumpy appearance
□ Have no taste function
□ In other animals, they have a different shape and function to help the animal drink (e.g. lapping up water)
Fungiform papillae:
=mushroom-shaped papillae located on the edge of the tongue
□ Concentrated on the tip of the tongue
□ Elevated in people who are super taster
□ Multiple taste buds in each
Foliate papillae:
= folds of tissue that contains taste buds
□ Located in the rear of the tongue, on the edges
Fold on the side
What is the tongue map?
Edwin Boring plotted somewhat smoothed curves that seemed to show a picture of how the classic taste qualities varied across tongue locations based on Hanig’s data of tastant thresholds
What is portrayed on the internet and what is the reality of the tongue map?
Enshrined in texts
It is bogus; It doesn’t exist
○ Taste thresholds only vary slightly across the tongue
□ ○ The original paper (in German) was translated as sensitivity not relative sensitivity
□ ○ Thresholds only reflect the lowest detectable taste concentrations; they don’t predict taste intensities
What are the types of taste buds?
Type I, II, III, IV
Type I cells
® Responds to salt & cell maintenance
® No synapse & release ATP
® Selective ion channel
® Though to function in maintenance of the cell; Glial-like cell
® Epithelium sodium channel (ENac) is the primary detector of salts
® Sodium enters via the ENac channel, depolarizing the cell
These receptors don’t have typical synapses. They secrete ATP which activates taste axons
Type II cells
® Classical taste receptors
® Respond to sweet, bitter, or umami taste
® No synapse & releases ATP
® Express G-Coupled Protein Receptors (GCPR)
◊ Different ones for different tastes
® More complex stimulus => more complex receptor
® When a tastant binds to a taste receptor. The inside portion of the receptor triggers a cascade of molecular events.
® Cause increase in Calcium and then release ATP
These receptors don’t have synapses. They secrete ATP which activates taste axons.
Type III cells
® Also called presynaptic cells (because they do have synapses)
® Release serotonin at the synapse
® Mediate sour taste
® Sour comes in as Hydrogen, the more Hydrogen ions there are the more sour it is
® Hydrogen selective channel
® Another way it gets into the cell, the undissociated acid can enter and then dissociate
-Depolarizes, increasing calcium
Type IV cells
® No tastant, develops the other cells
® Develop into Type I, II, III cells
® No transduction
® Not in the diagram
® Basal cells
Presumably undifferentiated cells that will give rise to new taste bud cells
Why don’t we lose our taste as we get older?
Respiratory epithelium replaces the olfactory epithelium when damaged through old age
Are taste receptors only in the mouth?
No
-Extraoral taste receptors
-Gut taste receptors
What is the function of taste receptors in the gut?
These receptors ‘taste’ the luminal content and transmit signals that regulate nutrient transporter expression and nutrient uptake
Also regulates the release of gut hormones and neurotransmitters involved in the regulation of energy and glucose homeostasis
Is spicy a tastant?
No
What is capsaicin?
= it is a receptor that produces the burn associated with chili peppers
-it stimulates TRPV1 receptors associated with the trigeminal system (i.e. not the gustatory system)
-it also responds to heat
What sensory system regulates spicy? What is the receptor?
Trigeminal system
-TRPV1 receptor