Outline

Introduction
Development of Taste System
Anatomy of Taste system
Basic taste Parameters
Central and Peripheral Gustatory Pathways
Taste measurement
Clinical correlates
Bibliography
 Taste is the sensation produced when a substance in the mouth reacts
chemically with taste receptor cells located on taste buds in the oral
cavity, mostly on the tongue.
Taste is a form of chemoreception which occurs in the specialized
taste receptors in the mouth.
Taste, along with smell (olfaction) and trigeminal nerve stimulation
determines flavors of food or other substances.
This system is present in both vertebrates and invertebrates and well
developed even in a newborn infant.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE TASTESYSTEM

Evidence shows that there is a functional taste system

present in utero.
Even premature infants respond pleasurably to sucrose and glucose.
Tongue Development
 Anatomy of the Taste system

Taste buds are located throughout theoral cavity,

In the pharynx,
The laryngeal epiglottis, and
At the entrance of the esophagus.
Taste buds on the dorsal lingual epithelium are themost
numerous 4000-5000 per tongue.
Each taste bud contains 50 to 100 taste receptor
cells.
Each with a taste pore opens into bud's centre, termed the
taste pit.
 Cont…

The tongue is covered with thousands of small bumps

called Papillae which are visible to the naked eye.

Here, taste buds are contained within three major

classes ofpapillae, the fungiform, foliate, and
circumvallate, while the filiform papillae are
nongustatory.

Microvillae, on which the taste receptors that

interact with the tastants are located, project from these
epithelial cells into the taste pit.
 Cont…

Taste buds are aggregations of 30 to 100 individual

elongated neuroepithelial cells (50 μm in
height, 30 to 70 μm in width).
Taste cells are bipolar cells, which connect to Oral cavity
the epithelial surface of the oral cavity via
dendritic processes and to a nerve axon at the Bipolar cells
Base which invades the bud and ramifies extensively.
Nerve axon
The lifespan of a mammalian taste cell is approximately 10- 14
days.
Cells in each taste bud contain the
sensory receptor cells,
supporting cells, and
basal cells that differentiate into new
receptor cells.

NB. As a cell ages => a nerve terminal detaches, :finds a

developing cell, and forms a new synapse.
The new cell has to be of the same taste specificity as the old
dying cell
Basic Taste Parameters

Taste in the gustatory system

allows humans to distinguish between safe and harmful food, and
To gauge foods’ nutritional value.
The five specific tastes received by taste receptors are saltiness,
sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and savoriness, often known by its Japanese term
"umami" which translates to ‘delicious’.
 Sweetness

Sweetness, usually regarded as a pleasurable sensation, is produced

by tpresence of sugars and a few other substances.
Sweetness is often connected to aldehydes and ketones, which
contain a carbonyl group.
Sweetness is detected by a variety of G protein coupled receptors
couplto the G protein gustducin found on the taste buds.
Taste detection thresholds for sweet substances are rated
relative to sucrose, which has an index of 1.
The average human detection threshold for sucrose is 10 mmoles
per liter.
 Sourness
Sourness is the taste that detects acidity.
Sour taste is detected by a small subset of cells that
are distributed across all taste buds in the tongue.
The sourness of substances is rated relative to dilute hydrochloric
acid, which has a sourness index of 1.
The most common food group that contains naturally sour foodsis
fruit, such as lemon, grape, orange, tamarind, and
sometimes melon.
At low concentrations, it is pleasant but once it reaches high
concentrations it becomes an unpleasant taste and leads to
avoidance.
It guides acid-base regulation and is sensitive to extracellular
pH changes
 Saltiness

The simplest receptor found in the mouth is the sodium chloride

(salt) receptor.
Saltiness is a taste produced primarily by the presence of sodium
ions.
The saltiness of substances is rated relative to sodium chloride
(NaCl), which has an index of 1.

Salt-water homeostasis.
Bitterness

Bitterness is the most sensitive of the tastes, and many perceive it as

unpleasant, sharp, or disagreeable, but it is sometimes desirable.
Common bitter foods and beAmerican mate, bitter gourd,
olives,
Quinine is also known for its bitter taste and is found in tonic
water.
verages include coffee, unsweetened cocoa, South
The taste thresholds of other bitter substances are rated relative to
quinine, which is thus given a reference index of 1.
Warning system designed by nature to protect against the
ingestion of harmful compounds
Savoriness /Umami

Savory, or savoriness is an appetitive taste and is

occasionally described by its Japanese name, umami or meaty.
Umami, or “scrumptiousness”, was first studied with the
scientific method and identified by Kikunae Ikeda.
He isolated a substance he called ajinomoto, Later identified
as the chemical monosodium glutamate(MSG), and
increasingly used independently as a food additive.
This taste helps guide the intake of peptides and
proteins.
Pungency / spiciness / 6th taste
Substances such as ethanol and capsaicin cause a
burning sensation by inducing a trigeminal nerve reaction
together with normal taste reception.

This particular sensation, called chemesthesis, is not a taste in

the technical sense, because the sensation does not arise from
taste buds, and a different set of nerve fibers carry it to the
brain.
 Coolness
Some substances activate cold trigeminal receptors even when
not at lowtemperatures. This "fresh" or "minty" sensation
can be tastedin peppermint, spearmint, menthol,
ethanol, and camphor.
Unlike the actual change in temperature described for
sugarsubstitutes, this coolness is only a perceived
phenomenon.
 Taste Transduction

Stimuli entering the mouth First interact with sites on the

microvilli within the taste pore.
2nd - Taste receptors trigger transduction cascades, which
then activate synapses and cause the excitation of nerve
fibers.
3rd - A signal is produced, which is then carried to the
brain, relaying information
on the identity and intensity of the gustatory stimulus.
 INNERVATION OF THETONGUE

Taste receptor cells do not have an axon. Information is

relayed onto terminals of sensory fibers by transmitters.
These fibers arise from the ganglion cells of three cranialnerves.
CN VIIsupplies
the buds within the fungiform and filiform papillae on the
anteriortwo-thirds of the tongue (via the chorda tympani
nerve),
as well as those of the soft palate (via the lesser palatine
nerve branch of thegreater petrosal nerve).
A branch of the trigeminal nerve serves generalsensation.
 Cont…

CN IX via its lingual tonsillar branch, supplies

the taste buds ofthe circumvallate papillae and
most of those of the foliate papillae within the
posterior third of the tongue.
The superior laryngeal nerve, a branch of the
vagus, innervates taste buds on the laryngeal
surface of the epiglottis.
Taste buds within the nasopharynx are
innervated by Its pharyngeal branch.
 Central Pathways and neural
communications
Taste fibers from cranial nerves VII, IX, and X form part
of the fasciculus solitarius and synapse centrally in the
medulla (in a thin line of cells called the nucleus of the
solitary tract)
From there, the information is relayed to the
somatosensory cortex for the conscious perception of taste
and to the hypothalamus, amygdale, and insulin, giving the
so-called affective component of taste.
NST receives input from the amygdale (regulates
coulometer nuclei output), bed nuclei of stria terminalis,
hypothalamus, and prefrontal cortex. NST is the
topographical map that processes gustatory and sensory
(temp, texture, etc.) information
 Cont…
Reticular formation (includes Raphe nuclei responsible for serotonin production)
is signaled to release serotonin during and after a meal to suppress appetite.
Hypoglossal and thalamic connections aid in oral-related movements.
Hypothalamus connections hormonally regulate hunger and the digestive system.
Edinger-Westphal nucleus reacts to taste stimuli by dilating and constricting the
pupils.
The frontal operculum is speculated to be the memory and association hub for
taste.
The insula cortex aids in swallowing and gastric motility
 Cont…

Taste nerves normally inhibit one another across the

midline.
Therefore. when a nerve is damaged there is a
decrease In inhibitory impulses from that side.
This in turn leads to an increase in responses from the
opposite side. this disinhibition of the damaged nerve
leads to an overall presentation of taste and total ageusia
or loss of taste is very rare.