title: Long-term recordings from afferent taste fibers.
abstract: The receptor cells of taste buds have a life span of about 10 days but it is not known if response characteristics of these receptors alter during the turnover cycle. To examine taste cell responses over time, a micromachined polyimide sieve electrode array was implanted between the cut ends of the rat chorda tympani nerve, which then regenerated through the electrode array. Long-term stable recordings from regenerated single afferent fibers innervating taste buds were possible using this technique for up to 21 days. Responses to taste stimuli recorded from the same fiber changed with time. The changes occurred in both the magnitude of response and the relative response profiles to four chemical stimuli, NaCl, sucrose, HCl, and quinine HCl. These changes in response characteristics were hypothesized to result from changes in the taste receptor cells as the receptor cells turnover in the taste buds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimatani
authors.forename: Stefan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Nikles
authors.forename: Khalil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Najafi
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Bradley
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002814:Chorda Tympani Nerve / Q000502:physiology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D005260:Female; D006851:Hydrochloric Acid; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology*; D011803:Quinine; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011930:Reaction Time; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical; D013395:Sucrose; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013395:Sucrose; D011803:Quinine; D006851:Hydrochloric Acid