Epithelial plasticity enhances regeneration of committed taste receptor cells following nerve injury

• Published in: Experimental & molecular medicine Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 171 - 182
• Main Authors: Adpaikar, Anish Ashok, Lee, Jong-Min, Lee, Dong-Joon, Cho, Hye-Yeon, Ohshima, Hayato, Moon, Seok Jun, Jung, Han-Sung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.01.2023; Springer Nature B.V; 생화학분자생물학회
• Subjects: 13; 13/100; 13/51; 14/19; 38/90; 631/136/2435; 631/532/2118; 64; 64/110; 96/35; Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell cycle; Cell differentiation; Degeneration; Epithelial Cells; Glossopharyngeal nerve; Glossopharyngeal Nerve Injuries; Medical Biochemistry; Mice; Molecular Medicine; Molecular modelling; Nerves; Organoids; Papillae; Progenitor cells; Regeneration; Stem cell transplantation; Stem Cells; Taste; Taste buds; Taste Buds - metabolism; Taste receptor neurons; Taste receptors; 생화학
• ISSN: 2092-6413; 1226-3613; 2092-6413
• DOI: 10.1038/s12276-022-00924-8

Taste receptor cells are taste bud epithelial cells that are dependent upon the innervating nerve for continuous renewal and are maintained by resident tissue stem/progenitor cells. Transection of the innervating nerve causes degeneration of taste buds and taste receptor cells. However, a subset of the taste receptor cells is maintained without nerve contact after glossopharyngeal nerve transection in the circumvallate papilla in adult mice. Here, we revealed that injury caused by glossopharyngeal nerve transection triggers the remaining differentiated K8 -positive taste receptor cells to dedifferentiate and acquire transient progenitor cell-like states during regeneration. Dedifferentiated taste receptor cells proliferate, express progenitor cell markers (K14, Sox2, PCNA) and form organoids in vitro. These data indicate that differentiated taste receptor cells can enter the cell cycle, acquire stemness, and participate in taste bud regeneration. We propose that dedifferentiated taste receptor cells in combination with stem/progenitor cells enhance the regeneration of taste buds following nerve injury. Taste: cellular processes for regenerating taste buds Studies in mice reveal details of how taste receptor cells in the mouth can regenerate to restore the sense of taste after nerve injury, with implications for understanding and perhaps treating nerve damage affecting taste in humans. Taste receptor cells normally survive between 8 and 24 days and are continually renewed in a process requiring contact with a healthy nerve. Han-Sung Jung and colleagues, at Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, found that cutting the relevant nerves in mice caused some of the existing taste receptor cells to revert to an earlier stage in their development to participate in taste bud regeneration. These previously mature cells acquired some characteristics of stem cells, with the potential to develop into a variety of cell types. The researchers now plan to more fully investigate the molecular mechanisms involved.