The taste system encodes stimulus toxicity.
Attempts to define the organization of the taste system in terms of the physical characteristics of stimuli have been largely unsuccessful. We recorded taste-evoked neural activity in the rat's hindbrain and determined that stimuli could be effectively organized along a physiological dimension which corresponds to stimulus toxicity. Taste is a visceral sense that mediates between the external and internal chemical environments. Its responsiveness to a wide range of chemicals and its organization along a dimension which promotes the organism's physiological welfare ideally suit it to that purpose.
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*