Taste Receptors Lab Report

Introduction: As the food enters the mouth, it interacts with saliva and taste receptors which are located in the oval cavity and other locations in the human body. Taste receptors plays a vital role in the sensation of taste. It maintains nutrition for the body and contributes in the identification of toxin subtances. The combination of different types of receptors helps in perception of the taste of substance inside the mouth. In gustatory system, the taste receptors cell are found in taste buds. Taste bud lies throughout the oval cavity, laryngeal epiglottis, in pharynx and the opening of eosophagus. The taste buds are group of 30-100 individual elongated cells called “neuroepithelial”, which are embedded in papillae. The little

The significant amount of effort was put forth, in order to determine the sour taste transduction mechanism. Numerous experiments on different animals species were done to study the whole process.The genes are not requires in this response because sour cells are identified by PKD2L1 protein. The presence of protons are so abundant in the sour substance, which can enter directly into the sour taste cells. When this positive charge enters into the cell it creates a electrical response. Weak acid like acetic acid, which do not dissociate with pH value, penerates the taste cells and can also evoke the electrical response. In this mechanism, H+ ion inhibits the potassium channels, which function in the hyperpolarization of the cells. This combination of intake of H+ ion which depolarize the cells and the inhibation of hyperpolarizing channel, together leads to polarization of membrane. The acidic stimuli activates the receptors, which cause decrease in pH and release of transmitters, this cause the excitation of afferent nerve fibers to cortex, which helps in the sour taste sensation. Primarily, acid stimuli produce a sour responese at a very low concentration, which is transduced by the chorda typani. When the concentration of sour taste response is high, it cause the irritation and is transducted by the trigeminal nerve.The lenghtening of alkyl chain structure of acid favor the diffusion through the membrane, this property shows that the chemical nature of sour taste receptors are like lipids instead of