Skip Navigation


Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on July 20, 2009
Chemical Senses 2009 34(7):607-616; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjp043
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
34/7/607    most recent
bjp043v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Formaker, B. K.
Right arrow Articles by Frank, M. E.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Formaker, B. K.
Right arrow Articles by Frank, M. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Responses of the Hamster Chorda Tympani Nerve to Sucrose+Acid and Sucrose+Citrate Taste Mixtures

Bradley K. Formaker, Hsung Lin, Thomas P. Hettinger and Marion E. Frank

Department of Oral Health and Diagnostic Sciences, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030, USA

Correspondence to be sent to: Bradley K. Formaker, Department of Oral Health and Diagnostic Sciences, School of Dental Medicine, MC-1718, University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030, USA. e-mail: Brad{at}neuron.uchc.edu


  Abstract

Studies of taste receptor cells, chorda tympani (CT) neurons, and brainstem neurons show stimulus interactions in the form of inhibition or enhancement of the effectiveness of sucrose when mixed with acids or citrate salts, respectively. To investigate further the effects of acids and the trivalent citrate anion on sucrose responses in hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), we recorded multifiber CT responses to 100 mM sucrose; a concentration series of HCl, citric acid, acetic acid, sodium citrate (with and without amiloride added), potassium citrate, and all binary combinations of acids and salts with 100 mM sucrose. Compared with response additivity, sucrose responses were increasingly suppressed in acid + sucrose mixtures with increases in titratable acidity, but HCl and citric acid were more effective suppressors than acetic acid. Citrate salts suppressed sucrose responses and baseline CT neural activity to a similar degree. Citrate salts also elicited prolonged, concentration-dependent, water-rinse responses. The specific loss in sucrose effectiveness as a CT stimulus with increasing titratable acidity was confirmed; however, no increase in sucrose effectiveness was found with the addition of citrate. Further study is needed to define the chemical basis for effects of acids and salts in taste mixtures.

Key words: acid, chorda tympani, citrate salts, sucrose, taste mixtures, water-rinse responses

Accepted 15 June 2009


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.