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Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on March 12, 2009
Chemical Senses 2009 34(5):373-382; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjp009
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Human Salt Taste and the Lingual Surface Potential Correlate

George M. Feldman1,2,3, Gerard L. Heck2 and Nancy L. Smith4

1 Department of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA 23298, USA 2 Department of Physiology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA 23298, USA 3 Medical Service, Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 1201 Broad Rock Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23249, USA 4 Research Service, Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Richmond, VA 23249, USA

Correspondence to be sent to: George M. Feldman, Medical Service, Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 1201 Broad Rock Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23249, USA. e-mail: george.feldman{at}va.gov


  Abstract

We have demonstrated in humans that Na+ evokes changes in the lingual surface potential (LSP) using a custom chamber. To assess whether a relationship exists between the Na+-evoked changes in the LSP and the intensity of salt taste, we measured the LSP and the intensity of salt taste simultaneously in 7 subjects using test solutions (50, 100, 300, and 1000 mM NaCl) presented in random order. The evoked LSPs and intensity scores correlated with one another well (r2 = 0.992, P < 0.01). We then screened 14 subjects for their ability to discriminate between 100 and 300 mM NaCl using the chamber. Three subjects were consistently capable of distinguishing the salt concentrations. In these 3 subjects, an inhibitor of the epithelial sodium channel, amiloride (10 µM), blocked the ability to distinguish salt concentrations and affected the LSP. These data suggest that the LSP may be a component of the signal transduction system involved in human salt taste. In adept salt tasters, an amiloride-sensitive mechanism appears to have a role in distinguishing salt concentrations.

Key words: amiloride, electrophysiology, salt taste

Accepted 15 February 2009


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