Histological localization of the sweet taste receptor in rat taste buds by the use of gurmarin, a sweet taste-suppressing peptide.
The binding site of gurmarin, a peptide inhibiting the sweet-taste sensation, was studied in taste buds in rat circumvallate papillae by means of a histochemical technique. Frozen sections of tongues were incubated with gurmarin conjugated with biotin and thereafter examined with a light microscope. Positive reactivity for the peptide was localized to the taste hairs, the apical projections of taste bud cells. The reaction appeared in about 10% of the circumvallate taste buds examined. As electrophysiological studies indicate that gurmarin suppresses the sweet-taste sensation at the level of reception, the present study suggests that the receptor for sweet taste is located on the taste hairs, and, furthermore, is present only in a certain, limited number of the taste buds.
Yoshie
S
S
Department of Oral Anatomy, Nippon Dental University School of Dentistry at Niigata, Japan.
Miyasaka
A
A
Imoto
T
T
D000818:Animals; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D008297:Male; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry
D010940:Plant Proteins; C075206:Gurmarin protein, Gymnema sylvestre