Lecture 24 - Taste Flashcards
Gustation
taste
Olfaction
smell
What is the stimulus?
The sensations of taste and smell arise in response to contact with chemicals in the environment, either that we put in our mouth (tastes), or that we inhale (odours)
The cells that detect these stimuli, therefore, are chemoreceptors (sensors able to detect chemicals)
What do the chemical senses do?
Allow us to detect chemicals in the environment that might help us survive and fulfill our biological destiny!
Information of taste and smell goes to very primitive part of the brain which triggers emotional responses and behaviours
Finding food and avoiding poisons
Finding a compatible mate (once sexual maturity has been reached)
taste buds in
tongue papillae
taste buds in the tongue papillae
Bumps and within these papillae are things called taste pores and taste buds are within the taste pores
Present food to a variety of chemoreceptors in our mouth to determine in the first instance whether it is something we should spit out
Natural instinct is that bitter things could be posionous so usually spit it out
Folds of epithelium that lines the sides of our tongue are called the foliate papillae
Even further back there are larger bumps - vallate papillae
Taste pores
Little holes around the outside of papillae
Coming out of these pores are little hairs called microvilli which assess the environment in your mouths at that time
Also in these pores are taste buds which are where our chemoreceptors are located
Taste bud
Also have taste bids on palate (roof of mouth) , pharynx (back of throat) and epiglottis
Taste pores
Little holes around the outside of papillae
Coming out of these pores are little hairs called microvilli which assess the environment in your mouths at that time
Also in these pores are taste buds which are where our chemoreceptors are located
Humans can detect how many different tastes
5
Different tastes
Sweet Sour Salty Umami Bitter
Sweet
Sweet – stimulated by sugars
e.g. fructose
Also stimulated by artificial sugars
Sour
Sour – stimulated by acids
e.g. acetic acids
Salty
Salty – stimulated by sodium (NaCl)
Bitter
Bitter – complex, but typically stimulated by alkaloids
Learnt to regard them as palatable rather than regard them as dangerous, habituation
Umami
Umami – stimulated by amino acids, especially glutamate
E,g, MSG - glutamate stimulates our umami receptors
Taste buds
2000-5000 taste buds, on tongue, palate, pharynx and epiglottis
Each taste bud is a compact cluster of 50/100 columnar epithelial cells (type I, type II and type III)
Different signalling transduction pathways for different tastes
Type II and II are involved in the sensation of taste
Type I cells act more like glial cells rather than being involved in the sensation of taste, more involved in maintenance of homeostasis for the whole taste bud
Type II and III taste bud cells
Type II and II are involved in the sensation of taste
Type I taste bud cells
Type I cells act more like glial cells rather than being involved in the sensation of taste, more involved in maintenance of homeostasis for the whole taste bud
General cell signal transduction mechanism
- Interaction of tastant with receptor causes increase in intracellular Ca2+
- Ca2+ flux causes release of neurotransmitter or signaling molecule which interacts with afferent nerve fibre
- ATP, GABA, serotonin and Ach are transmitters/ signaling molecules involved in taste signaling in taste buds (taste sense is different with lots of different taste molecules)