• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.83-89
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• 2008

Glutamate-induced cobalt uptake reveals non-NMDA glutamate receptors (GluRs) in rat taste bud cells. Previous studies suggest that glutamate-induced cobalt uptake in taste cells occurs mainly via kainate type GluRs. Cobaltstained cells were immunoreactive against GluR6 and KA1 subunits of GluRs. However, the functions of those type of receptors are not known yet. It is important question which types of taste cells are cobalt-stained when stimulated by glutamate and whether they express these kinds of GluRs. Circumvallate and foliate papilla of Sprague-Dawley rats (45-60 days old) were used. A cobalt-staining technique combined with immunohistochemistry against specific markers for taste bud cell types, such as blood group H antigen (BGH), $\alpha$-gustducin (Gus), or neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) was employed. We also performed double labeling of GluR6 or KA1 subunits of GluR with each specific marker for taste bud cell types. Lots of cobaltstained taste bud cells expressed Gus-like immunoreactivity, and subsets of the cobalt stained cells appeared NCAM- or BGH-like immunoreactivity. Stimulation with 1 mM glutamate significantly increased the number of cobaltstained cells in Gus-like immunoreactive cells, but not in NCAM- or BGH-like immunoreactive cells. In the double labeling experiments, GluR6 and KA1 subunits of GluRs were mainly expressed with Gus. These results suggest that kainate glutamate receptors preferentially expressed in type II taste bud cells in rat.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.688-703
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• 1997

The effect of glossopharyngeal nerve transection on the taste buds of the rat vallate papilla was examined by using the method of DNA nick-end labeling (TUNEL) and standard electron microscopic technique at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 days after denervation. In general, the number and size of taste buds decreased as more days passed after denervation. They started decreasing on day 3 post denervation and virtually all taste buds were disappeared on day 9 post denervation. In studies using TUNEL method, TUNEL postive cells markedly increased in their numbers one day post denervation, as compared with controls. The number of apoptotic taste bud cells per taste bud profile was averaged to be 0.64 and 0.44 for day 1 and 3 post denervation, respectively, whereas it was 0.10 in controls. In electron microscopy, apoptotic cells were identified by the presence of condensed and fragmentary nuclei in a cytoplasm, which resulted in increased density. In control rats, only few apoptotic cells were found. On days 1 and 3 post denervation, nerve fibers almost disappeared from the taste buds and some apoptotic cells were apparent. On days 7 and 9 post denervation, a few taste bud cells were still present in the epithelium of the bottom of the trench wall of the vallate papilla and most of them showed apoptotic changes. The results indicate that the death of taste bud cells in normal conditions is controlled by apoptosis and the decrease and disappearance of taste buds after denervation is also caused by apoptosis of taste bud cells.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.455-460
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• 2009

Glutamate-induced cobalt uptake reveals that non-NMDA glutamate receptors (GluRs) are present in rat taste bud cells. Previous studies involving glutamate induced cobalt staining suggest this uptake mainly occurs via kainate type GluRs. It is not known which of the 4 types of taste bud cells express subunits of kainate GluR. Circumvallate and foliate papillae of Sprague-Dawley rats (45~60 days old) were used to search for the mRNAs of subunits of non-NMDA GluRs using RT-PCR with specific primers for GluR1-7, KA1 and KA2. We also performed RT-PCR for GluR5, KA1, $PLC\beta2$, and NCAM/SNAP 25 in isolated single cells from taste buds. Taste epithelium, including circumvallate or foliate papilla, express mRNAs of GluR5 and KA1. However, non-taste tongue epithelium expresses no subunits of non-NMDA GluRs. Isolated single cell RT-PCR reveals that the mRNAs of GluR5 and KA1 are preferentially expressed in Type II and Type III cells over Type I cells.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2010

Objectives This study is to find out how fungiform papillae count, which represents the density of taste buds, is related to eating behavior of children and adolescents. Methods The authors measured fungiform papillae count, height, and weight of 50 healthy children aged from 2 to 15. To evaluate the severity of anorexia, parents of the subjects answered modified version of Korean Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (K-CEBQ). Children with weight of less than 50th percentile were assigned to low-weight group, while the others to high-weight group. Pearson's correlation test was conducted in order to evaluate the relationship between modified K-CEBQ score and fungiform papillae count. Results Low-weight children scored $29.8{\pm}9.1$, while high-weight children scored $24.5{\pm}7.1$. (p<0.05) on modified K-CEBQ Pearson's correlation coefficient between modified K-CEBQ score and fungiform papillae count was 0.503 (p<0.05) in low-weight group, 0.260 in high-weight group, and 0.339 (p<0.05) in total. However, there were no statistical significance in correlations between modified K-CEBQ score and percentile of weight, height, or BMI. Conclusions Severity of anorexia was correlated to the density of taste buds, especially in children who weighed less than average. The analysis on each single question indicated that children with high taste bud density had poor appetite not because of their inadequate digestive function, but because of their fastidious eating habit. Further study should be focused on finding out which specific aspect of appetite is related to the taste bud density.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 2014

Taste is an important sense in survival and growth of animals. The growth and maintenance of taste buds, the receptor organs of taste sense, are under the regulation of various neurotrophic factors. But the distribution aspect of neurotrophic factors and their receptors in distinct taste cell types are not clearly known. The present research was designed to characterize mRNA expression pattern of neurotrophic factors and their receptors in distinct type of taste cells. In male 45-60 day-old Sprague-Dawley rats, epithelial tissues with and without circumvallate and folliate papillaes were dissected and homogenized, and mRNA expressions for neurotrophic factors and their receptors were determined by RT-PCR. The mRNA expressions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT3), receptor tyrosine kinase B (TrkB), exclusion of nerve growth factor (NGF), neurotrophin-4/5 (NT4/5), receptor tyrosine kinase A (TrkA), receptor tyrosine kinase C (TrkC), and p75NGFR were observed in some population of taste cell. In support of this result and to characterize which types of taste cells express NT3, BDNF, or TrkB, we examined mRNA expressions of NT3, BDNF, or TrkB in the $PLC{\beta}2$ (a marker of Type II cell)-and/or SNAP25 (a marker of Type III cell)-positive taste cells by a single taste cell RT-PCR and found that the ratio of positively stained cell numbers were 17.4, 6.5, 84.1, 70.3, and 1.4 % for $PLC{\beta}2$, SNAP25, NT3, BDNF, and TrkB, respectively. In addition, all of $PLC{\beta}2$-and SNAP25-positive taste cells expressed NT3 mRNA, except for one taste bud cell. The ratios of NT3 mRNA expressions were 100% and 91.7% in the SNAP25-and $PLC{\beta}2$-positive taste cells, respectively. However, two TrkB-positive taste cells co-expressed neither $PLC{\beta}2$ nor SNAP 25. The results suggest that the most of type II or type III cells express BDNF and NT3 mRNA, but the expression is shown to be less in type I taste cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.877-882
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• 2022

Taste sensation is the process of converting chemical identities in food into a neural code of the brain. Taste information is initially formed in the taste buds on the tongue, travels through the afferent gustatory nerves to the sensory ganglion neurons, and finally reaches the multiple taste centers of the brain. In the taste field, optical tools to observe cellularlevel functions play a pivotal role in understanding how taste information is processed along a pathway. In this review, we introduce recent advances in the optical tools used to study the taste transduction pathways.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.197-202
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• 2011

The present study demonstrates the first-ever characterization of cell types that express the vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1) in the taste buds of rat circumvallate papillae. We performed electron microscopy to identify the subcellular location. The VR1 immunoreactivity was associated with the endoplasmic reticulum, cytoplasmic vesicles, and plasma membrane of taste cells. These results demonstrate the localization of the VR1 in membranous structures of the taste cells. We used double immunofluorescence histochemistry with taste cell type-specific markers to identify the cell types that express the VR1. The VR1 was detected in all functional taste cell types (Type I, Type II, and Type III cells). Together, our data suggest that the VR1 might play different roles according to the cell types within a taste bud.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.515-525
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• 2005

Purpose of study: Lingual nerve damage can be caused by surgery or trauma such as physical irriatation, radiation, chemotherapy, infection and viral infection. Once nerve damage occurred, patients sometimes complain taste change and loss of taste along with serious disturbance of tongue. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of unilateral lingual nerve transection on taste as well as on the maintenance of taste buds. Materials & Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 220-250g received unilateral transection of lingual nerve, subjected to the preference test for various taste solutions (0.1M NaCl, 0.1M sucrose, 0.01M QHCl, or 0.01M HCl) with two bottle test paradigm at 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks after the operation. Tongue was fixed with 8% paraformaldehyde. After fixation, they were observed with scanning electron microscope(JSM-$840A^{(R)}$, JEOL, JAPAN) and counted the number of the dorsal surface of the fungiform papilla for changes of fungiform papilla. And, Fungiform papilla were obtained from coronal sections of the anterior tongue(cryosection). After cryosection, immunostaining with $G{\alpha}gust$(I-20)(Santa Cruz Biotechnology, USA), $PLC{\beta}2$(Q-15)(Santa Cruz Biotechnology, USA), and $T_1R_1$(Alpha Diagnostic International, USA) were done. Immunofluorescence of labeled taste bud cells was examined by confocal microscopy(F92-$300^{(R)}$, Olympus, JAPAN). Results: The preference score for salty and sweet tended to be higher in the operated rats with statistical significance, compared to the sham rats. Fungiform papilla counting were decreased after lingual nerve transaction. In 2 weeks, maximum differences occurred. Gustducin and $T_1R_1$ expressions of taste receptor in 2 and 4 weeks were decreased. $PLC{\beta}2$ were not expressed in both experimental and control group. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the taste recognition for sweet and salty taste changed by week 2 and 4 after unilateral lingual nerve transection. However, regeneration related taste was occurred in the presence of preserving mesoneurial tissue and the time was 6 weeks. Our results demonstrated that unilateral lingual nerve damage caused morphological and numerical change of fungiform papilla. It should be noted in our study that lingual nerve transection resulted in not only morphological and numerical change but also functional change of fungiform papillae.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2021.04a
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• pp.27-27
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• 2021

Yacon [Samallanthus sonchifolius (Poepp. & Endl.) H. Robinson], a member of Compositae plants, has sweet taste and crisp texture. Unlike other Andean root crops such as potato and sweet potato, the cultivation area of yacon has increased recently, since it is known to have large content of fructooligosaccharides (FOS). Since there are no yacon varieties bred in Korea, we have been trying to create new genetic resources using gamma-ray. The optimal gamma-ray dosage for mutation breeding in yacon was investigated. Crown bud and green bud of yacon were exposed to doses of gamma rays from 20 Gy to 80 Gy, and subsequently planted in a greenhouse. After 50 days of sowing, the survival rates and growth decreased rapidly at doses above 40 Gy, while all of crown bud individuals died above 60 Gy. The median lethal dose (LD50) of crown bud and green bud was 22.4 and 36.6 Gy, and the median reduction doses (RD50) for plant height, fresh weights, and tuberous root weight were 20-40 Gy, respectively. A dose of 20-40 Gy was found to be optimal for mutation breeding in yacon. Considering the growth factors, the optimum doses were determined to be within the range of 20-40 Gy for the selection of useful mutant lines. M2-M3 mutant lines were obtained from 20-60 Gy gamma-ray-irradiated M1 plants through clonal propagation. These mutant lines will be used for the development of a new variety of yacon plant with high FOS and no crack tuberous root.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.158-163
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• 2005

This paper deals with the histology of the barbels of striped sea catfish, Plotosus lineatus (Thunberg). This fish have eight noticeable barbels of two pairs on their maxillary and mandibular. Each barbel is composed of an epidermis, dermis and a central rod of cartilage. The epidermis in the middle part of the maxillary barbel is thicker than those on other parts, and formed of stratified epithelium which contains many cutaneous taste buds and a few small club cells. Number of taste buds increase on the middle and posterior part of each barbel. The dermis consists of loose connective tissue fibers which encloses blood vessels and bundles of nerve fibers. The barbels of this fish can be categorized into stiff and flexible types and are accessory, feeding and sensory structures. Thus we substantiate that they are gustatory receptor organs for this fish.