title: Innervation of taste buds revealed with Brainbow-labeling in mouse.
abstract: Nerve fibers that surround and innervate the taste bud were visualized with inherent fluorescence using Brainbow transgenic mice that were generated by mating the founder line L with nestin-cre mice. Multicolor fluorescence revealed perigemmal fibers as branched within the non-taste epithelium and ending in clusters of multiple rounded swellings surrounding the taste pore. Brainbow-labeling also revealed the morphology and branching pattern of single intragemmal fibers. These taste bud fibers frequently innervated both the peripheral bud, where immature gemmal cells are located, and the central bud, where mature, differentiated cells are located. The fibers typically bore preterminal and terminal swellings, growth cones with filopodia, swellings, and rounded retraction bulbs. These results establish an anatomical substrate for taste nerve fibers to contact and remodel among receptor cells at all stages of their differentiation, an interpretation that was supported by staining with GAP-43, a marker for growing fibers and growth cones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Faisal N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Zaidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cicchini
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaufman
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Van Tassel
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Whitehead
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017950:Ganglia, Sensory / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000737:chemistry*
keywords: geniculate ganglion; innervation; morphology; mouse; plasticity; taste bud