HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 96/6/3088    most recent 00409.2006v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yoshida, R. Articles by Ninomiya, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yoshida, R. Articles by Ninomiya, Y.

Taste Responsiveness of Fungiform Taste Cells With Action Potentials

¹Section of Oral Neuroscience, Graduate School of Dental Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka; and ²Department of Brain Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu, Japan

Submitted 18 April 2006; accepted in final form 8 September 2006

It is known that a subset of taste cells generate action potentials in response to taste stimuli. However, responsiveness of these cells to particular tastants remains unknown. In the present study, by using a newly developed extracellular recording technique, we recorded action potentials from the basolateral membrane of single receptor cells in response to taste stimuli applied apically to taste buds isolated from mouse fungiform papillae. By this method, we examined taste-cell responses to stimuli representing the four basic taste qualities (NaCl, Na saccharin, HCl, and quinine-HCl). Of 72 cells responding to taste stimuli, 48 (67%) responded to one, 22 (30%) to two, and 2 (3%) to three of four taste stimuli. The entropy value presenting the breadth of responsiveness was 0.158 ± 0.234 (mean ± SD), which was close to that for the nerve fibers (0.183 ± 0.262). In addition, the proportion of taste cells predominantly sensitive to each of the four taste stimuli, and the grouping of taste cells based on hierarchical cluster analysis, were comparable with those of chorda tympani (CT) fibers. The occurrence of each class of taste cells with different taste responsiveness to the four taste stimuli was not significantly different from that of CT fibers except for classes with broad taste responsiveness. These results suggest that information derived from taste cells generating action potentials may provide the major component of taste information that is transmitted to gustatory nerve fibers.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Ohkuri, K. Yasumatsu, N. Horio, M. Jyotaki, R. F. Margolskee, and Y. Ninomiya Multiple sweet receptors and transduction pathways revealed in knockout mice by temperature dependence and gurmarin sensitivity Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, April 1, 2009; 296(4): R960 - R971. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. C. Geran and S. P. Travers Bitter-Responsive Gustatory Neurons in the Rat Parabrachial Nucleus J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2009; 101(3): 1598 - 1612. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. M. Breza, K. S. Curtis, and R. J. Contreras Monosodium Glutamate but not Linoleic Acid Differentially Activates Gustatory Neurons in the Rat Geniculate Ganglion Chem Senses, November 1, 2007; 32(9): 833 - 846. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. M. Tomchik, S. Berg, J. W. Kim, N. Chaudhari, and S. D. Roper Breadth of Tuning and Taste Coding in Mammalian Taste Buds J. Neurosci., October 3, 2007; 27(40): 10840 - 10848. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]