Taste and Smell

Travis Solomon, MD, PhD

solomont@umkc.edu
Guyton & Hall, chap. 53, pp 645-652
Objectives
Know the steps in detection of odors by the olfactory system and
the central pathways involved.
Describe the cellular mechanisms that transduce environmental
odorants into action potentials in olfactory bipolar cells.
Understand the impact of odors on taste and on general behavior
(affective responses).
Know the organization of the taste system: taste buds, primary
afferent neurons, central pathways, and associated affective
responses to specific tastes.
Describe the classes and mechanisms of signal transduction of taste
receptors.
Be familiar with the clinical consequences of smell and taste and
their disorders.
Chemosensation
All chemicals necessary for life enter the body
by the nose and mouth.
The senses of smell (olfaction) and taste
(gustation) monitor those chemicals:
determine the flavor, palatability, and toxicity of
foods and beverages
warn of dangerous environmental conditions (fire,
air pollution, leaking natural gas, and bacteria-
laden foodstuffs).
Whats That Smell?
Odorants enter the nose,
dissolve in mucus.
6 million bipolar cells
(neurons) extend cilia into
mucus layer.
Each bipolar cell expresses
only one type of receptor.
About 350 different
receptors for odorants.
Each receptor is specifically
activated by one or more
odorants.
Olfaction
Humans can distinguish 400,000 different
substances by smell.
80% 0f these odorants are unpleasant.
Olfactory receptors are the largest family of
genes known (~350).
All olfactory receptors use the same transduction
mechanism.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004
was awarded jointly to Richard Axel and Linda B.
Buck "for their discoveries of odorant receptors
and the organization of the olfactory system."

Neural Pathways: Nose to Brain
Mucus
secretion
CNS Pathways for Olfaction
Very sensitive but
narrow range.
Affective nature:
Pleasant vs unpleasant
Strong aversion
Pheromones and sexual
drive.
Rapid adaptation.
Old, less-old, new
association areas
Odorants Bind to GPCR, Act Through
cAMP, Open Ion Channels
Open Ion Channels Depolarize Olfactory
Neurons, Initiate Signal to Brain
Taste
Less discriminating than smell.
Elicits several responses:
Pleasurable taste sensations
Salivary secretion
Gagging, vomiting
Multiple contributing factors:
Taste receptors
Odor receptors (80% of taste)
Mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, nociceptors
Taste Buds Contain Modified
Epithelial Cells
10,000 taste buds,
50 150 taste cells,
2000-5000 receptors
Receptor cell may
express multiple
taste receptors
Primary Taste Qualities and Probable
Receptors


Salty
Sweet
Sour (acid)
Bitter
Umami
2 sodium receptors
2 potassium receptors
Chloride receptor
Adenosine receptor
Inosine receptor
2 sweet receptors
2 bitter receptors
Glutamate receptor
Hydrogen ion receptor
Taste qualities, taste receptors, and examples of natural
stimuli.
Chaudhari N , Roper S D J Cell Biol 2010;190:285-296
Relative Taste Sensitivity


Bitter > Sour > Salt = Sweet
8 M, 900 M, 10,000 M
Complexity of Taste
Humans can distinguish taste of up to 10,000
chemicals.
Most acids are sour; most salts are salty.
Bitter: K
+
, Mg
++
, quinine, many alkaloids and
drugs.
Sweet: sucrose, fructose, monellin (protein),
aspartame (aspartyl-phenylalanine methyl
ester).

Taste and Smell Interact
Other Oral Receptors
Contribute to Taste

Texture
Temperature
Pain
Fat
Pain vs Pleasure
Taste Receptor Mechanisms

Salty: epithelial Na+ channel (ENAC).
Sour: ion channel (TRP).
Sweet, bitter, umami: GPCRs.

ALL RESULT IN MEMBRANE DEPOLARIZATION
(GRADED/RECEPTOR POTENTIAL)
Cellular Transduction of
Taste Receptor Activation
Unknown
neurotransmitter
Confers
specificity
Taste Receptors: Salt

Mediated by Na+ channels
(ENaC) on apical surface of
taste bud receptor cells.
Receptor cells depolarized.
First order taste neurons
activated.
Taste Receptors: Sour
Sour (acid) substances act
through PKD2L1 receptors.
Member of transient
receptor protein family.
Receptor activation
depolarizes taste receptor
cell.
First order taste neurons
activated.

Taste Receptors:
Sweet, Umami

Family of 3 GPCRs: T1R1,
T1R2, T1R3.
Binding of tastant activates G
protein (gustducin),
phospholipase C, , TRPM5.
TRPM5 is relatively
nonselective cation channel,
depolarizes cell.
First order neurons activated.

Taste Receptors: Bitter
Separate family of GPCRs:
T2R.
About 30 different receptors.
Receptors do not distinguish
among bitter substances.
Receptor activation
depolarizes taste receptor
cell.
First order taste neurons
activated.
Taste: Central Pathways
Taste signals can
activate salivary
secretion, nausea.

Rapid adaptation.
Taste preferences.
Taste aversion.
Taste Disorders
Generally not associated with aging.
Often due to olfactory, salivary, or neurologic
dysfunction: Alzheimers, diabetes,
anticholinergics, antipsychotics,
antihypertensives.
Oral products and medications can alter taste
(& smell): anti-plaque mouthwash, toothpaste,
hydrocortisone, lidocaine, tetracycline, captopril,
penicillamine.

Smell Disorders
Frequently associated with aging.

Upper Respiratory Tract Infections.

Head Trauma.

Iatrogenic: Inhaled corticosteroids, radiation,
chemotherapy, streptomycin, codeine.

Significance
Among the more important developments in
neurology has been the discovery that
decreased smell function is perhaps the first
sign of neurodegenerative diseases such as
Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's
disease (PD), signifying their "presymp-
tomatic" phase.
Diag-nose-is: Things You May Smell
Halitosis.
Volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs produced by gram-
negative anaerobic bacteria)
Decreased saliva, inflammation
Systemic diseases can alter breath.
TB, pneumonia, lung cancer, tonsillitis
Hiatal hernias, gastroesophageal reflux, gastric ulcer
Achalasia
Diabetic ketoacidosis
Hepatic and renal failure