title: Synergistic responses of the chorda tympani to mixtures of umami and sweet substances in rats.
abstract: It has been known that umami substances such as monosodium L-glutamate (MSG) and 5'-inosine monophosphate (IMP) elicit a unique taste called 'umami' in humans. One of the characteristics of the umami taste is synergism: the synergistic enhancement of the magnitude of response produced by the addition of 5'-ribonucleotides to MSG. In addition to this well-documented synergism, we report here for the first time on another type of synergism between a glutamate receptor agonist, L-AP4, and sweet substances, by analyzing the chorda tympani responses in rats. The results are as follows: (i) when L-AP4 was mixed with one of the sweet substances, such as sucrose, glucose, fructose and maltose, large synergistic responses were observed. (ii) These synergistic responses, except to L-AP4 + sucrose, were not suppressed by sweet taste suppressants, gurmarin and pronase E. (iii) These synergistic responses were not suppressed by either metabotropic or ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists. (iv) Fibers that responded well to the binary mixtures of L-AP4 and sweet substances also responded well to NaCl and HCl, but very weakly to sucrose. These findings are different from the characteristics of synergism between glutamate and IMP. The multiple transduction mechanisms for the umami taste in rat taste cells are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Physiology, Asahi University School of Dentistry, 1851 Hozumi, Hozumi, Motosu, Gifu 501-0296, Japan. sako@dent.asahi-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Noritaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sako
authors.forename: Ken'ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tokita
authors.forename: Tadataka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugimura
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002814:Chorda Tympani Nerve / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004357:Drug Synergism; D004594:Electrophysiology; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D007291:Inosine Monophosphate / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D011422:Propionates / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D012970:Sodium Glutamate / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013652:Taste Threshold / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C114785:2-amino-4-phosphono-propinate; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D011422:Propionates; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate; D013549:Sweetening Agents; D007291:Inosine Monophosphate; D012970:Sodium Glutamate