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About the Authors:
Huan Cai
Contributed equally to this work with: Huan Cai, Wei-na Cong
Affiliation: Metabolism Unit, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Wei-na Cong
Contributed equally to this work with: Huan Cai, Wei-na Cong
Affiliation: Metabolism Unit, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Caitlin M. Daimon
Affiliation: Metabolism Unit, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Rui Wang
Affiliation: Metabolism Unit, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Matthias H. Tschöp
Affiliation: Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Centre Munich, Munich, Germany
Jean Sévigny
Affiliation: Centre de recherche en Rhumatologie et Immunologie, Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, QC and Département de microbiologie-infectiologie et d′immunologie, Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec, Quebec City, Canada
Bronwen Martin
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Metabolism Unit, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Stuart Maudsley
Affiliation: Receptor Pharmacology Unit, Laboratory of Neuroscience, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Introduction
Gustation is one of the fundamental chemical senses that guides organisms to identify nutrients while avoiding toxic chemicals. This sensory mechanism is primarily mediated through ion channels or receptors in taste cells which are clustered into onion-shaped taste buds. Taste buds are located within three different types of papillae: fungiform papillae located in the apical region of the tongue, foliate papillae on the lateral posterior tongue and circumvallate papillae on the posterior tongue [1]. Differences in ultrastructural features, stage of differentiation and diverse functioning allows taste cells within the taste buds to be classified into Type I, II, III and IV taste cells. Type I taste cells, the most abundant cells in the tongue, function as supportive glia in taste buds [2]. Type II cells are commonly referred to as ‘receptor cells’ as they express a variety of sweet, bitter and umami taste receptors [3]. After tastant binding to a specific taste receptor, taste cells are activated and signals are transmitted to...