The Special Senses

Part A
 Objectives
 Describe the location, structure, and afferent
pathways of taste and smell receptors, and
explain how these receptors are activated.

 Cranial Nerves and Functions

 Chemical Senses
 5 Senses
 Touch, Taste, Smell, Vision and Hearing
 Touch Excluded as special sense
 Various aspects of touch (Pain, heat,
pressure) Somatic sense
 Chemical senses – gustation (taste) and
olfaction (smell)
 The receptors for taste (gustation) and smell
(olfaction) are Chemoreceptors.
 Chemoreceptors respond to chemicals in
aqueous solution
 Taste – to substances dissolved in saliva
 Smell – to substances dissolved in fluids
 Taste Buds and the Sense of Taste
 The word taste comes from the Latin taxare,
meaning “to touch, estimate, or judge.”
 It is considered by many to be the most
pleasurable of the special senses.
 Taste Bud: Sensory receptor organs for taste
 10,000 or so taste buds
 Most of the them are found on the
tongue(cheeks, pharynx)
 Taste buds are found in papillae of the
tongue mucosa
 Papillae  Peglike projections of the tongue
mucosa give slightly abrasive feel
 Filiform papillae
 Thin, long papillae "V"-shaped cones D
 Don't contain taste buds but are the most
 Types of Papillae
 Fungiform papillae
 mostly at the apex (tip) of the tongue, as
well as at the sides. Innervated by facial
nerve. Contains most taste buds
 Foliate papillae
 Ridges and grooves towards the posterior
part of the tongue found on lateral margins.
 Facial nerve (anterior papillae)
 glossopharyngeal nerve (posterior papillae).
 Circumvallate papillae
 Only about 3-14 of these papillae on most
people,
 Present at the back of the oral part of the
 Anatomy of a Taste Bud
 Each Funnel-shaped taste bud consists of 50
to 100 three major cell types
§ Supporting cells – insulate the receptor
§ Basal cells – dynamic stem cells (dividing
and differentiating into new gustatory
cells)
§ Gustatory cells – taste cells
 Long microvilli called gustatory hairs
project from the tips of all gustatory cells
and extend through a taste pore to the
surface of the epithelium, where they are
bathed by saliva.
 The gustatory hairs are the sensitive
Taste Buds
Taste Sensations
 There are five basic taste sensations
 Sweet – sugars, saccharin, alcohol, and
some amino acids
 Salt – metal ions
 Sour – hydrogen ions
 Bitter – alkaloids such as quinine and
nicotine
 Umami (Savoury) – elicited by the
amino acid glutamate
 Sweet, Bitter, and Umami work with a
signal through a G protein-coupled
receptor.
 Salty and Sour, which work with ion
 Physiology of Taste
 In order to be tasted, a chemical:
 Must be dissolved in saliva
 Must contact gustatory hairs
 Activation of Taste Receptors:
 Binding of the food chemical to receptors
 Depolarization the taste cell membrane,
 Releasing neurotransmitter
 Initiating an action potential
 Threshold of activation
 Bitter receptors detect substances present
in minute amounts
 Other receptors are less sensitive
 Adaptation is rapid, with partial adaptation
in 3–5 seconds and complete adaptation in
 Taste Transduction
 Partly known
 Each taste quality has its own special
mechanism.
 All of these mechanisms ultimately cause an
increase in intracellular Ca2+, which
increases neurotransmitter release
 The stimulus energy is converted into a
nerve impulse by:
 Na+ influx in salty tastes
 H+ influx in sour tastes by one of three
ways
 Directly entering the cell,
 Opening cation channels,
 Gustatory Pathway
 Cranial Nerves
 VII(Facial), (Anterior two-thirds of the tongue)
 IX(glossopharyngeal) (posterior third and the
pharynx just behind)
 X (vagus) (epiglottis and the lower pharynx )
 carry impulses from taste buds to the
solitary nucleus of the medulla
 These impulses then travel to the thalamus,
and from there fibers branch to the:
 Gustatory cortex (taste)
 Hypothalamus and limbic system
(appreciation of taste)
Gustatory Pathway
 Influence of Other Sensations on Taste
 Taste is 80% smell
 When olfactory receptors in the nasal cavity
are blocked by nasal congestion (or pinching
your nostrils), food is bland
 Thermoreceptors, mechanoreceptors,
nociceptors also influence tastes
 Temperature and texture enhance or detract
from taste
 “Hot” foods such as chili peppers actually
bring about their pleasurable effects by
exciting pain receptors in the mouth
 Sense of Smell
 Olfact (To Smell)
 The organ of smell is called the olfactory
epithelium
 Yellow-tinged patch (about 5cm2)
 Pseudostratified epithelium
 Located in the roof of the nasal cavity
 Olfactory receptor cells are bipolar neurons
with radiating olfactory cilia
 Olfactory receptors are surrounded and
cushioned by supporting cells
 Basal cells lie at the base of the epithelium
Sense of Smell
 Olfactory Pathway
 Olfactory receptor cells synapse with mitral
cells
 Glomerular mitral cells process odor signals
 Mitral cells send impulses to:
 The olfactory cortex
 The hypothalamus, amygdala, and limbic
system
 Physiology of Smell
 Humans can distinguish10,000 or so odours
 Olfactory receptors respond to several
different odour causing chemicals
 When bound to ligand these receptors
initiate a
G protein mechanism, which uses cAMP as a
second messenger
 cAMP opens Na+ and Ca2+ channels, causing
depolarization of the receptor membrane
that then triggers an action potential
Olfactory Transduction Process