Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on August 21, 2006
Chemical Senses 2006 31(9):835-843; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjl026
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Linoleic and Oleic Acids Alter the Licking Responses to Sweet, Salt, Sour, and Bitter Tastants in Rats
Department of Psychology, Wofford College, 429 North Church Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303, USA
Correspondence to be sent to: David W. Pittman, Department of Psychology, Wofford College, 429 North Church Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303, USA. e-mail: pittmandw{at}wofford.edu
The free fatty acids (FFAs), linoleic and oleic acids, commonly found in dietary fats can be detected by rats on the basis of gustatory cues following conditioned taste aversion pairings. FFAs depolarize the membrane potential of isolated rat taste receptor cells by inhibiting delayed rectifying potassium channels. This study examined the licking response of rats to sweet, salt, sour, and bitter taste solutions when 88 µM linoleic acid, 88 µM oleic acid, or an 88 µM linoleicoleic acid mixture was added to the solutions. The presence of linoleic, oleic, and the linoleicoleic acid mixture in sweet solutions produced increases in the licking responses, whereas adding linoleic, oleic, and the linoleicoleic acid mixture to salt, sour, or bitter taste solutions produced decreases in licking responses when compared with the licking responses to the solutions in the absence of the FFAs. We conclude that FFAs may act in the oral cavity to depolarize taste receptor cells and therefore to increase the perceived intensity of concomitant tastants, thus contributing to the enhanced palatability associated with foods containing high dietary fat.
Key words: behavior, dietary fat, free fatty acids, gustatory, taste
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