Taste Receptor Cells That Discriminate between Bitter Stimuli

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 291; no. 5508; pp. 1557 - 1560
• Main Authors: Caicedo, Alejandro, Roper, Stephen D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 23.02.2001; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Animals; Behavioral neuroscience; Biological and medical sciences; Calcium - metabolism; Cells; Cellular receptors; Cycloheximide - pharmacology; Discrimination (Psychology); Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gustatory perception; In Vitro Techniques; Inferences; Mental stimulation; Microscopy, Confocal; Neurons; Olfactory system and olfaction. Gustatory system and gustation; Phenylthiourea - pharmacology; Physiological aspects; Physiological stimulation; Quaternary Ammonium Compounds - pharmacology; Quinine - pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors; Sensory discrimination; Stimuli; Sucrose - analogs & derivatives; Sucrose - pharmacology; Taste; Taste (Sense); Taste - physiology; Taste buds; Taste Buds - cytology; Taste Buds - drug effects; Taste Buds - physiology; Taste cells; Taste Threshold; Tongue; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Human; Stimulus; Calcium; Rodentia; Bitter taste; Sensory receptor; Gustatory receptor; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Gustation; Taste; Intracellular; Stimulus discrimination; Response stimulus relation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1056670

Recent studies showing that single taste bud cells express multiple bitter taste receptors have reignited a long-standing controversy over whether single gustatory receptor cells respond selectively or broadly to tastants. We examined calcium responses of rat taste receptor cells in situ to a panel of bitter compounds to determine whether individual cells distinguish between bitter stimuli. Most bitter-responsive taste cells were activated by only one out of five compounds tested. In taste cells that responded to multiple stimuli, there were no significant associations between any two stimuli. Bitter sensation does not appear to occur through the activation of a homogeneous population of broadly tuned bitter-sensitive taste cells. Instead, different bitter stimuli may activate different subpopulations of bitter-sensitive taste cells.