Taste and smell Flashcards
What were the evolutionary reasons for developing taste and smell?
Finding food, finding a mate, avoiding dangerous substances and homeostasis.
What kind of receptors do taste and smell require?
Chemoreceptors
In what 5 places are chemical senses needed?
- Gustation/taste
- Olfaction/Smell
- Within the skin
- Within the GIT to monitor activity e.g.enzymes
- Internal environment e.g. pH, O2
What can affect present food experiences?
Lifetime experience psychologically affects it
Which two main types of substances does taste allow the detection of?
Poisons e.g. bitterness - Avoided for protection but can acquire a taste for bitter products when known that they’re not poisonous.
Food - Flavour is detected through combined taste and smell.
What is neurogastronomy?
The combing of texture, vision and sound with flavour in the brain to create a perception of the flavour. It combines taste and smell.
What 5 submodalities make up taste?
Salt Sour Sweet Bitter Unami/Savoury Balanced together to create an overall taste
Where are taste cells present?
Tongue, palate and pharynx
What is the distribution of taste cells?
Relative but not absolute. There are certain densities of a submodality that will accumulate in specific areas but they are not restricted to these areas.
Where are the taste buds located?
Contained within the raised protrusions known as papillae.
What is a taste bud?
A groups of cells with the same taste receptor. These receptors are highly sensitive.
In what area is sweet mainly detected?
Tip of tongue
In what are is Bitter mainly detected?
Posterior of tongue
In what are is unami mainly detected?
Centre of tongue
Where are salty and sour mainly detected?
Along the lateral sides of the tongue, with salty most posterior.
What 4 structures are formed by papillae and describe their location?
Vollate - Seperates anterior tongue from lingual tonsil
Fungiform - Lateral sides of anterior
Filiform - Centre of anterior tongue
Foliate - Lateral posterior
Why are taste cells not sensory neurons?
Have no axons so cannot fire an AP
How do taste cells signal?
Synapse with a sensory neuron through the release of NT. They convert a stimulus to a signal for the release of NT to the sensory afferent.
How often are the taste cells replaced?
Every 2 weeks by basal cells
What is the overall sequence of events that leads to an AP?
Chemical binds to taste cell —> Transduction —> Receptor potential —>Depolarisation —> VGCC open —> Ca entry —> NT release —> Excites sensory neuron —> AP
What is transduction?
The method of stimulation of the receptor of a taste cell that varies with each submodality.
Why does the receptor potential not fire?
It is a graded change in membrane potential bu there is no axon to transmit the AP