title: Taste buds as peripheral chemosensory processors.
abstract: Taste buds are peripheral chemosensory organs situated in the oral cavity. Each taste bud consists of a community of 50-100 cells that interact synaptically during gustatory stimulation. At least three distinct cell types are found in mammalian taste buds - Type I cells, Receptor (Type II) cells, and Presynaptic (Type III) cells. Type I cells appear to be glial-like cells. Receptor cells express G protein-coupled taste receptors for sweet, bitter, or umami compounds. Presynaptic cells transduce acid stimuli (sour taste). Cells that sense salt (NaCl) taste have not yet been confidently identified in terms of these cell types. During gustatory stimulation, taste bud cells secrete synaptic, autocrine, and paracrine transmitters. These transmitters include ATP, acetylcholine (ACh), serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), and GABA. Glutamate is an efferent transmitter that stimulates Presynaptic cells to release 5-HT. This chapter discusses these transmitters, which cells release them, the postsynaptic targets for the transmitters, and how cell-cell communication shapes taste bud signaling via these transmitters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and Program in Neuroscience, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, 1600 NW 10th Ave., Miami, FL 33136, USA. sroper@med.miami.edu
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Roper
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication; D006801:Humans; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface