title: Effects of acetylcholine on coding of taste information in the primary gustatory cortex in rats.
abstract: Acetylcholine (ACh) receptors are widely distributed throughout the cerebral cortex in rats. Recently, cholinergic innervation of the gustatory cortex (GC) was reported to be involved in certain taste learning in rats. Here, the effects of iontophoretic application of ACh on the response properties of GC neurons were studied in urethane-anesthetized rats. ACh affected spontaneous discharges in a small fraction of taste neurons (11 of 86 neurons tested), but influenced taste responses in 27 of 43 neurons tested. No correlations with ACh susceptibility were noted for spontaneous discharges and taste responses. Among the 27 neurons, ACh facilitated taste responses in 13, inhibited taste responses in 13 and either facilitated or inhibited taste responses depending on the stimuli in 1. Furthermore, ACh affected the responses to best stimuli that produced the largest responses among four basic tastants (best responses) in 7 of 27 taste neurons, to non-best responses in 9, and to both best and non-best responses in 11. ACh mostly inhibited the best responses (13 of 18 neurons). Thus, ACh often decreased the response selectivity to the four basic tastants and changed the response profile. Atropine, a general antagonist of muscarinic receptors, antagonized ACh actions on taste responses or displayed the opposite effects on taste responses to ACh actions in two-thirds of the neurons tested. These findings indicate that ACh mostly modulates taste responses through muscarinic receptors, and suggest that ACh shifts the state of the neuron network in the GC, in terms of the response selectivities and response profiles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sensory and Cognitive Physiology, Faculty of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Honjo 1-1-1, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan. kayoko@kaiju.medic.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ogawa
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D020532:Basal Nucleus of Meynert / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D002799:Cholinergic Fibers / Q000378:metabolism; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists; D011976:Receptors, Muscarinic; D000109:Acetylcholine