Electrical taste thresholds established on the medial tongue using two sizes of electrodes.
OBJECTIVE
The present study determined whether a 125 mm electrode would produce lower and more reliable electrical taste thresholds than a 25 mm electrode when measurement occurred in a medial tongue region relatively sparse in taste bud numbers. We hypothesized this would be the case and that the obtained threshold values would be higher than those previously reported for anterior and lateral tongue regions.


METHODS
Sixteen college-age subjects were tested twice, once using the 25 mm electrode and once using the 125 mm electrode on each of two sessions separated by 2 to 16 days. The order of presentation of the sessions was counterbalanced across subjects. Measurement was confined to the medial tongue, 0.7 cm lateral to the median furrow.


RESULTS
As hypothesized, the larger electrode resulted in lower and more reliable threshold values than the smaller electrode (respective median threshold values = 20.06 microA & 33.59 microA, P = .001; respective test-retest rs = 0.78 [P < .001] and 0.46 [P < .05]). Also as hypothesized, the threshold values were higher (i.e., sensitivity lower) than previously reported for anterior and lateral tongue regions.


CONCLUSIONS
The magnitude and reliability of electrical taste thresholds depends on the tongue region examined and the size of the electrodes used. These results suggest that relatively large electrodes should be considered for electrogustometric threshold testing, particularly when lingual regions not highly populated with taste buds are evaluated.
Nicolaescu
Serban A
SA
School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Wertheimer
Jaclyn M
JM
Barbash
Scott E
SE
Doty
Richard L
RL
D000328:Adult; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011336:Probability; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D013337:Students, Medical; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000502:physiology; D013652:Taste Threshold / Q000502:physiology*