Chapter 8: The Chemical Senses 11/24/2009

Chemical sensation
 oldest and most common sense
 taste and smell

TASTE
The basic tastes
 5 classes: Saltiness, sourness, sweetness, bitterness, unami (savory)
 Taste receptors cluster in areas of the tongue- a lot of taste receptors at
the tongue
 Examples of correspondence between chemistry:
 Sweet- sugars like fructose, sucrose, artificial sweeteners
(saccharin and aspartame)
 Sweet receptors bind to things that look like sugars- the molecular
structures are very different but the sugar receptors are still
activated.
 Bitter- ions like K+ and Mg2+, quinine, and caffeine. These are
more specific with high sensitivity
 Advantage- survival
 Poisonous substances- often bitter. This is probably why the bitter
receptors are more specific.
 Steps to distinguish the countless unique flavors of food:
 Each food activates a different combination of taste receptors
 Distinctive smell
 Other sensory modalities- eg. texture.

The organs of Taste

 Tongue**, mouth, palate, pharynx and epiglottis
 Areas of sensitivity on tongue depending on most predominant class-
Bitter receptors tend to be at the back of the tongue
 Papillae contain 1 to a few hundred taste buds
 Each taste bud has 50-150 taste receptors
 Papillae in front are finer than the coarser papillae in the back.
 papillae studded with taste pours- the saliva sends the food to microglia
which come out of the taste pour. ??

Taste Receptor Cells

 Apical ends of taste receptor cell have microvilli.
 Receptor cells are constantly replacing themselves- receptor cells 2 week
cycle
 microvilli project into taste pours
 Without sensory nerve, receptor cells degenerate.
 Receptor potential: voltage sift (depolarization)

Taste Receptor Cells

 Taste receptors are not extremely specific- overlap between sensitivity.
 Taste receptors can respond to different stimuli depending on
concentration. If you have a very concentrated substances, you would have
just the receptors for that particular taste responding.

Mechanisms of Taste Transduction

1. Saltiness
 (low sensitivity channel- you need a pretty high salt concentration
for receptors to fire)
 special Na+ selective channel
 Channel is always open (not voltage sensitive)
 Opens up voltage gated sodium and calcium channels which
activates receptors
2. Sourness
 Sourness-acidity- low pH
 H+ can enter through Na+ channels into taste receptors which
depolarizes neuron by changing membrane potential
 H+ bind and block K+ channels (decreases leaky current which
depolarizes the neuron)
 Low pH probably has other effects
3. Bitterness
 Families of taste receptor genes- TIR and T2R (more than 30)
  Individual taste receptors express most or all bitter receptors
 G-protein activates Phospholipase C. Activates inositol triphosphate
(secondary molecule). Activates Na+ channel. Na+ enters cell,
depolarizes, opens voltage-gated Ca+ channel, transmitter release.
4. Sweetness
 T1R2 + T1R3 (2 proteins usually used for bitter taste are bound
together and then respond to sweet)
 Activates same intracellular signaling cascade as bitter receptors
 Expressed in different taste cells.
5. Unami
 Detect amino acids
 T1R1 + T1R3 (proteins tightly bound)
 Use same second messenger system as bitter and sweet
 Taste cells express only one type of receptors (e.g. sweet or bitter)

 main Sensory pathway is ipselateral – no crossing over.

 Primary gustatory cortex is in temporal lobe

Central Taste Pathways

 Gustatory nucleus
 Points where primary gustatory neurons synapse
 in medulla
 project to thalamus, brainstem areas (mostly medulla, control
vomiting), hypothalamus (appetite control)
 Thalamus- Ventral posterior medial nucleus (VPM)
 Primary gustatory cortex:
 Receives axons from VPM taste neurons.

The Neural Coding of Taste

1. Labelled lines- sour receptive cells is streamed together
 2. Population coding (pattern) – looks at pattern of recording- relative
amount of sweet, sour etc.

SMELL
Pheromones
 Smell- a mode of communication
 Important signals for many species for sexual behavior.
 Role of human pheromones?- area of controversy

The Organs of Smell

 Olfactory epithelium
 Olfactory receptor cells, supporting cells, and basal cells.
 There is a layer of mucus which dissolves smell
 The receptor cells have cilia which stick into mucus and sense what
is dissolved in the mucus
 The basal cells generate new olfactory receptor cells
 Fibers are sent back through the cribriform plate which separates your
nasal passages from your brain.
 Odorants dissolved in mucus- then reach receptors on olfactory receptor
 Mucus coating replaced every 10 min
 Humans: weak smellers due to small surface area of olfactory epithelium
and fewer cells per cm. Olfactory bulb is also quite small.
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11/24/2009
11/24/2009