title: Stimulation of the gerbil's gustatory receptors by artificial sweeteners.
abstract: Some electrophysiological and behavioral taste experiments have been undertaken to determine how the Mongolian gerbil responds to artificial sweeteners. In the electrophysiological experiment only fourteen of twenty-one sweeteners produced neural responses. The most potent compound was L-4'-cyano-3-(2,2,2-trifluoroacetamido)succinanilic acid. Halogenated derivatives were more potent stimuli than non-halogenated ones. D-Tryptophan was stimulatory while L-tryptophan was not. The electrophysiological responses to sucrose were not inhibited by the presence of non-stimulating sweeteners nor were the responses to D-tryptophan inhibited by L-tryptophan. All the compounds that were stimulatory electrophysiologically were used in the behavior experiment. Using conditioned taste aversion, the gerbils responded to 5 of the compounds as sweet, one as sweet-salty, two as sweet-bitter, one as sour and one as bitter. In addition, 3 compounds were drunk equally by all groups suggesting that they were tasteless or possessed some unknown taste quality. A correlation was found between the efficacy (Kd) of the sweet-tasting compounds (pure sweet or mixed sweet) and the sweetness ranking by humans.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005849:Gerbillinae; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013395:Sucrose / Q000494:pharmacology; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D013649:Taste; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013652:Taste Threshold
chemical_list: D013549:Sweetening Agents; D013395:Sucrose