The sense of taste

• Tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth.it is

covered with moist, pink tissue called
mucosa.
• Tiny bumps called papillae give the tongue its
rough texture.
• Thousands of taste buds covers papillae.
• Taste buds are collections of nerve like cells
that connect to nerves running in to the brain
• Human tongue has three distinct divisions.
• Namely ;
the apex: accounts for 1/3rd of ant.surface
- sweet taste buds are present
the body:Ant. 2/3rd.
- Salt ,bitter and sour tastes are
present
the root : Attaches the tongue to the bottom
or floor of mouth cavity
• Smell and taste are Chemical sensations
• Taste is the gustatory sensation
• Smell is olfactory sensation
• Taste drives appetite and protects us from
poisons.
 Sensory afferent nerves and pathways

• Taste buds on the posterior third of tongue

have a sensory pathway through
glossopharngeal nerve(9),whereas the
anterior 2/3rd of the tongues innervated by the
chorda tympani branch of the fascial nerves,
which then gets interpreted in parietal lobe.
 Taste receptors;taste buds
• Taste buds are specialized sensory organs that
are most numerous on the surface of the tongue;
but also present on the soft palate and on the
walls of oropharynx.
• Their number declines with age.
• Taste receptors do not have an axon.
• Information is relayed to terminals of sensory
fibers by neurotransmitters. These fibers arise
from ganglion of cranial nerves.
 Primary taste modalities
• There are only four basic tastes , which are sensed most
accurately on particular parts of the tongue.
• These are ;
• Sweet:Tip of tongue
• Sour:Side of tongue
• Bitter : Back of tongue and
• Salty: over most of tongue, but concentrated on the
sides.
• Combinations of these taste modalities allows for
impressive taste discrimanation.
• Sour tastes are produced by hydrogen ions(H+),
therefore all acids tastes sour.
• Salt tastes are produced by amiloride sensetive
Na+ channel.
• Sweet tastes are produced by glucose binding to
receptors activating adenylyl cyclase,thereby
elevating CAMP.
• Bitter tastes are produced by second
messenger(IP3) mediated release of Ca2+
 New tastes(Umami taste)
• Is the taste of certain aminoacids(E.g.
Glutamate, Aspartate and related compounds.
• Metabotropic glutamate receptor mediates
this taste.
• Monosodium glutamate added to many foods
enhance their tastes.(The main ingridient of
soy sauce).
 Flavour
• Is a combination of;
• taste, smell, texture, and other physical
feature(e.g temprature)
 Abnormalities(taste blindness)
• Is a genetically programmed insensitivity to
bitterness and strong tastes.
• Nontasters or people who experience taste
blindness have fewer tastebuds on their
tongue than other people do.
Sense of smell
• Odour molecules must be small enough(<300-
400 relative molecular mass) so that they can
vapourise,reach the nose and then dissolve in
the mucos)
• We can distinguish around 10,000 different
smell.
• Anosmic(Someone who has lost some or all of
their sense of smell)
 Sensory pathways in olfaction
• Olfactory ephithilium; contains sensory cells,
bowman’s glands (secreting bathing fluid and
proteins).
• Odorant binding proteins facilitates the transfer of
lipophilic ligands(odorants) across mucos layer to the
receptors.
• Odorant receptor neurons are bipolar neurons in the
nasal epithilium. And they are capable of
regenerating. They also contain cilia which project in
to the mucus(containing receptor proteins).
 Odor qualities
• On the basis of the apparent similarities perceived
odour quality or confusions in naming, it was
concluded that there were six main odor qualities;
• FRUITY
• FLOWERY
• RESINOUS
• SPICY
• FOUL and
• BURNED.
 Olfactory treshhold
• Is the lowest concentration of certain odor
compound that is perceivable by human sense
of smell.
• The treshhold of a chemical compound is in
part determined by its shape,polarity,partial
charges and molecular mass.
 Central processing
• Neurons from the lateral olfactory tract
project to – areas of limbic system.
• Projections are also sent to the thalamus and
hence to frontal cortex for recognition.