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 Taste and smell

Assoc Prof Dr Rahimah Zakaria

Dept of Physiology

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 Chemical Senses

▪ Chemical senses – gustation (sense of taste) and

olfaction (sense of smell)
▪ Their chemoreceptors respond to chemicals in
solution
Taste – substances dissolved in saliva
Smell – substances dissolved in mucus of the
nasal membranes

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TASTE

LO: Describe the mechanism of taste

and outline neural pathways

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 Taste Buds
▪ Found on tongue, buccal mucosa, soft palate, epiglottis,
wall of pharynx and larynx
▪ The taste buds are found in the walls of taste papillae
Each taste bud consists of
Taste cells
■ Dark cells (type I) - glial-like and are thought to detect salty stimuli
■ Light cells (type II) - most mature, detect bitter, sweet and umami
stimuli
■ Intermediate cells (type III) – detect sour stimuli
Basal cells
■ dynamic stem cells.
■ differentiate into new taste cells, and the old cells are
continuously replaced with a half-time of about 10 days

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 Taste papillae – 3 major types of papillae
(circumvallate, foliate, and
Base of tongue.
fungiform) are located on specific
Largest
number.
but least in

parts of the tongue.

Contain largest number of
taste buds.

Lateral borders of
tongue.
Contain up to 100
taste buds per papilla.

Most numerous. Located near tip of tongue.

Do not contain taste buds. Submit Contain up to 5 taste buds per papilla.
information on temperature, texture & pain. Dense blood supply, appear red.
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 Taste cells extend from base of
the taste bud to the taste pore,
where microvilli contact tastants
dissolved in saliva and mucus.

Citation: Chapter 11 Smell & Taste, Barrett KE, Barman SM, Boitano S, Brooks HL. Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology, 25e; 2018. Available at:
https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=1587&sectionid=97163266 Accessed: April 26, 2023
Copyright © 2023 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved
 Taste Modalities

▪ There are 5 primary (basic) taste

Sweet – sugars, glycols, aldehydes, ketones,
amides, esters, alcohol, and some amino acids etc.
Salt – ionized salts
Sour – hydrogen ions
Bitter – alkaloids such as quinine and nicotine
Umami – amino acid glutamate such as MSG

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 Ionotropic receptors Metabotropic receptors

Salt and sour tastes are mediated via the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC). This receptor has
two subunits (α and γ), each crossing the membrane twice, resulting in intracellular N and C
termini (NT, CT). Salt is sensed following Na+ movement; sour is mediated by movement of H+.
Sweet, bitter, and umami tastes are sensed via G-protein–coupled receptors that span the
membrane seven times and have varying lengths of CT and NT (represented as ribbon
structures). Sweet tastes are detected by the T1R2 and T1R3 families; bitter and umami tastes
are detected by the T2R family and mGluR4, respectively.
Citation: Chapter 11 Smell & Taste, Barrett KE, Barman SM, Boitano S, Brooks HL. Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology, 25e; 2018. Available at:
https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=1587&sectionid=97163266 Accessed: April 26, 2023
Copyright © 2023 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved
Taste
Transduction

Spicy (e.g., capsaicin, ginger)

– ligands bind to vanilloid
receptor 1 (VR1) on sensory
nerve ending
Endoplasmic reticulum

Fat “taste” - may be mediated

by receptor transduction and
nonspecific transport across
the cell membrane

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 Sensory nerve fibers

▪ Anterior 2/3 of tongue -

chorda tympani branch of
the facial (VII) nerve
▪ Posterior 1/3 of tongue -
glossopharyngeal (IX)
nerve
▪ Palate, pharynx and larynx
- vagus (X) nerve

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 Taste Pathways

Signals from the taste buds travel via different nerves to gustatory areas of the nucleus of the tractus
solitarius, which relays information to the thalamus; the thalamus projects to the gustatory cortex. (Modified
with permission from Kandel ER, Schwartz JH, Jessell TM [editors]: Principles of Neural Science, 4th ed. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2000.)
Citation: Chapter 11 Smell & Taste, Barrett KE, Barman SM, Boitano S, Brooks HL. Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology, 25e; 2018. Available at:
https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=1587&sectionid=97163266 Accessed: April 26, 2023
Copyright © 2023 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved
Taste thresholds

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Encoding taste
A central labeled-line
"decoder" could then
know that a "sweet"
stimulus is present
when the sweet "line"
is active.

B input from taste

receptor cells that
detect sweets is
distributed across
neurons and
represented by a
pattern code in the
CNS.
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 Adaptation of taste

▪ Taste sensations adapt rapidly (within a minute) of

continuous stimulation. e.g. after taking sweet food,
the threshold for sweet taste will increase ⊇ 10x
▪ Cross-adaptation or interaction between taste
producing substances: A temporary loss of sensitivity
to a stimulus, following exposure to a different
stimulus.
e.g. exposure to sucrose (table sugar) reduces
sensitivity to fructose and other sweet substances
OR reduction of the sour taste of fruits by sucrose

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 Taste Perception Varies
According To Context

▪ Perception of taste is significantly affected by other

inputs – olfactory, visual, and temperature/texture of
food.
▪ Perception of taste is also affected by prior experience,
satiety, and hunger

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SMELL
LO: Describe the mechanism of smell
and outline neural pathways

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 Olfactory epithelium
▪ The olfactory epithelium consists of
3 cell types:
Supporting cells – columnar
epithelial cells with microvilli.
Provide support and
nourishment to olfactory
neurons
Basal cells – undifferentiated
stem cells that give rise to
olfactory receptor cells. Located
at base of olfactory epithelium
Olfactory sensory neurons – are
primary afferent neurons. Site of
odorant detection, binding, and Bowman’s or olfactory glands secrete
transduction mucus that dissolves the odorants and
moisten surface of olfactory epithelium

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▪ Olfactory sensory neurons are found in the roof of the nasal
cavity (50 million in humans).
▪ Receptor sites are on cilia projecting from sensory neurons.

Cribriform
plate of the
ethmoid
bone

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 Smell Transduction
Odorant Odorant Na+/ Ca2+
binding chemical
protein

G-protein-
coupled
receptor
Inactive Active

Adenylate Na+/ Ca2+ influx

cyclase ATP causes
depolarization

cAMP

Depolarization of
olfactory receptor
cell membrane
Cytoplasm triggers action
potentials in axon
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of receptor
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 Olfactory pathways

▪ Axons from olfactory sensory neurons leave olfactory

epithelium, pass through cribriform plate, and
synapse on apical dendrites of mitral and tufted cells
(2nd order neurons) in the olfactory bulb
▪ These synapses occur in clusters called glomeruli
▪ In the glomeruli, approx. 1000 olfactory sensory
neurons converge onto 1 mitral/tufted cell
▪ Mitral and tufted cells project to higher centers in the
CNS
▪ At the base of the brain, olfactory tract terminates on
5 regions of olfactory cortex

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 Olfactory Pathway

• Conscious discrimination of odor depends on the neocortex (orbitofrontal and frontal

cortices).
• Emotive aspects of olfaction derive from limbic projections (amygdala and
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 Encoding odor

▪ Odorant receptors have

different responses to the
same odorants
▪ If a given odorant is examined
across many receptors,
different patterns emerge 🡪
each odorant produces a
unique pattern of activity 🡪
transmitted and interpreted in
CNS

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 Adaptation of odor

▪ The perceived intensity

of a smell drops by 30%
or more after
continuous exposure.
▪ This explains why
people cannot smell
their own house or
body odor.

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