title: Amiloride blocks salt taste transduction of the glossopharyngeal nerve in metamorphosed salamanders.
abstract: Studies in the last two decades have shown that amiloride-sensitive Na(+) channels play a role in NaCl transduction in rat taste receptors. However, this role is not readily generalized for salt taste transduction in vertebrates, because functional expression of these channels varies across species and also in development in a species. Glossopharyngeal nerve responses to sodium and potassium salts were recorded in larval and metamorphosed salamanders and compared before and after the oral floor was exposed to amiloride, a blocker of Na(+) channels known to be responsible for epithelial ion transport. Pre-exposure to amiloride (100 microM) did not affect salt taste responses in both axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) and larval Ezo salamanders (Hynobius retardatus). In contrast, in metamorphosed Ezo salamanders the nerve responses to NaCl were significantly reduced by amiloride. In amphibians amiloride-sensitive components in salt taste transduction seem to develop during metamorphosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nii
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
mesh_terms: D000557:Ambystoma / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology; D000584:Amiloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005930:Glossopharyngeal Nerve / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D014562:Caudata / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride; D000584:Amiloride