The tastes of sugars (sweet) and glutamate (umami) are thought to be detected by T1r receptors expressed in taste cells. Molecular genetics and heterologous expression implicate T1r2 plus T1r3 as a sweet-responsive receptor,and T1r1 plus T1r3,as well as a truncated form of the type 4 metabotropic glutamate receptor (taste-mGluR4),as umami-responsive receptors. Here,we show that mice lacking T1r3 showed no preference for artificial sweeteners and had diminished but not abolished behavioral and nerve responses to sugars and umami compounds. These results indicate that T1r3-independent sweet- and umami-responsive receptors and/or pathways exist in taste cells.

TRPM5, a cation channel of the TRP superfamily, is highly expressed in taste buds of the tongue, where it has a key role in the perception of sweet, umami and bitter tastes. Activation of TRPM5 occurs downstream of the activation of G-protein-coupled taste receptors and is proposed to generate a depolarizing potential in the taste receptor cells. Factors that modulate TRPM5 activity are therefore expected to influence taste. Here we show that TRPM5 is a highly temperature-sensitive, heat-activated channel: inward TRPM5 currents increase steeply at temperatures between 15 and 35 degrees C. TRPM4, a close homologue of TRPM5, shows similar temperature sensitivity. Heat activation is due to a temperature-dependent shift of the activation curve, in analogy to other thermosensitive TRP channels. Moreover, we show that increasing temperature between 15 and 35 degrees C markedly enhances the gustatory nerve response to sweet compounds in wild-type but not in Trpm5 knockout mice. The strong temperature sensitivity of TRPM5 may underlie known effects of temperature on perceived taste in humans, including enhanced sweetness perception at high temperatures and 'thermal taste', the phenomenon whereby heating or cooling of the tongue evoke sensations of taste in the absence of tastants.

The oral perception of fat has traditionally been considered to rely mainly on texture and olfaction, but recent findings suggest that taste may also play a role in the detection of long chain fatty acids. The two G-protein coupled receptors GPR40 (Ffar1) and GPR120 are activated by medium and long chain fatty acids. Here we show that GPR120 and GPR40 are expressed in the taste buds, mainly in type II and type I cells, respectively. Compared with wild-type mice, male and female GPR120 knock-out and GPR40 knock-out mice show a diminished preference for linoleic acid and oleic acid, and diminished taste nerve responses to several fatty acids. These results show that GPR40 and GPR120 mediate the taste of fatty acids.

Trpm5 is a calcium-activated cation channel expressed selectively in taste receptor cells. A previous study reported that mice with an internal deletion of Trpm5, lacking exons 15-19 encoding transmembrane segments 1-5, showed no taste-mediated responses to bitter, sweet, and umami compounds. We independently generated knockout mice null for Trpm5 protein expression due to deletion of Trpm5's promoter region and exons 1-4 (including the translation start site). We examined the taste-mediated responses of Trpm5 null mice and wild-type (WT) mice using three procedures: gustatory nerve recording [chorda tympani (CT) and glossopharyngeal (NG) nerves], initial lick responses, and 24-h two-bottle preference tests. With bitter compounds, the Trpm5 null mice showed reduced, but not abolished, avoidance (as indicated by licking responses and preference ratios higher than those of WT), a normal CT response, and a greatly diminished NG response. With sweet compounds, Trpm5 null mice showed no licking response, a diminished preference ratio, and absent or greatly reduced nerve responses. With umami compounds, Trpm5 null mice showed no licking response, a diminished preference ratio, a normal NG response, and a greatly diminished CT response. Our results demonstrate that the consequences of eliminating Trmp5 expression vary depending upon the taste quality and the lingual taste field examined. Thus, while Trpm5 is an important factor in many taste responses, its absence does not eliminate all taste responses. We conclude that Trpm5-dependent and Trpm5-independent pathways underlie bitter, sweet, and umami tastes.

Endocannabinoids such as anandamide [N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA)] and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) are known orexigenic mediators that act via CB 1 receptors in hypothalamus and limbic forebrain to induce appetite and stimulate food intake. Circulating endocannabinoid levels inversely correlate with plasma levels of leptin, an anorexigenic mediator that reduces food intake by acting on hypothalamic receptors. Recently, taste has been found to be a peripheral target of leptin. Leptin selectively suppresses sweet taste responses in wild-type mice but not in leptin receptor-deficient db/db mice. Here, we show that endocannabinoids oppose the action of leptin to act as enhancers of sweet taste. We found that administration of AEA or 2-AG increases gustatory nerve responses to sweeteners in a concentration-dependent manner without affecting responses to salty, sour, bitter, and umami compounds. The cannabinoids increase behavioral responses to sweet-bitter mixtures and electrophysiological responses of taste receptor cells to sweet compounds. Mice genetically lacking CB 1 receptors show no enhancement by endocannnabinoids of sweet taste responses at cellular, nerve, or behavioral levels. In addition, the effects of endocannabinoids on sweet taste responses of taste cells are diminished by AM251, a CB 1 receptor antagonist, but not by AM630, a CB 2 receptor antagonist. Immunohistochemistry shows that CB 1 receptors are expressed in type II taste cells that also express the T1r3 sweet taste receptor component. Taken together, these observations suggest that the taste organ is a peripheral target of endocannabinoids. Reciprocal regulation of peripheral sweet taste reception by endocannabinoids and leptin may contribute to their opposing actions on food intake and play an important role in regulating energy homeostasis.energy homeostasis | gustation | reciprocal regulation E ndocannabinoids such as anandamide [N-arachidonoylethanolamine (AEA)] and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) are known orexigenic mediators that act via CB 1 receptors in hypothalamus and limbic forebrain to induce appetite (1, 2) and stimulate food intake (3). Systemic administration of exogenous cannabinoids or endocannabinoids in rodents causes hyperphagia (4) and increases the preference for palatable substances such as sucrose solution or food pellets (5, 6). These effects are mediated by the CB 1 receptor: pretreatment with the CB 1 antagonist SR141716 inhibited hyperphagia and reduced consumption of both bland and palatable foods (4-6). The natural "liking" reactions of rats to sweet compounds were amplified by endogenous cannabinoid signals in nucleus accumbens (7). Thus, endocannabinoids may be related to hedonic aspects of sweet taste.There is growing evidence that taste function can be modulated by hormones or other factors that act on receptors present in the peripheral gustatory system. Leptin, an anorexigenic mediator that reduces food intake by acting on hypothalamic receptors (8), selectively suppresses sweet taste responses and th...

The sense of taste comprises at least five distinct qualities: sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami, the taste of glutamate. For bitter, sweet, and umami compounds, taste signaling is initiated by binding of tastants to G-protein-coupled receptors in specialized epithelial cells located in the taste buds, leading to the activation of signal transduction cascades. ␣-Gustducin, a taste cell-expressed G-protein ␣ subunit closely related to the ␣-transducins, is a key mediator of sweet and bitter tastes. ␣-Gustducin knock-out (KO) mice have greatly diminished, but not entirely abolished, responses to many bitter and sweet compounds. We set out to determine whether ␣-gustducin also mediates umami taste and whether rod ␣-transducin (␣ t-rod ), which is also expressed in taste receptor cells, plays a role in any of the taste responses that remain in ␣-gustducin KO mice. Behavioral tests and taste nerve recordings of single and double KO mice lacking ␣-gustducin and/or ␣ t-rod confirmed the involvement of ␣-gustducin in bitter (quinine and denatonium) and sweet (sucrose and SC45647) taste and demonstrated the involvement of ␣-gustducin in umami [monosodium glutamate (MSG), monopotassium glutamate (MPG), and inosine monophosphate (IMP)] taste as well. We found that ␣ t-rod played no role in taste responses to the salty, bitter, and sweet compounds tested or to IMP but was involved in the umami taste of MSG and MPG. Umami detection involving ␣-gustducin and ␣ t-rod occurs in anteriorly placed taste buds, however taste cells at the back of the tongue respond to umami compounds independently of these two G-protein subunits.

These results suggest that taste cells may be capable of recognizing multiple taste compounds that elicit similar taste sensation. We did not find any NaCl-best cells among the gustducin and GAD67 taste cells, raising the possibility that salt sensitive taste cells comprise a different population.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP 3 R) is one of the important calcium channels expressed in the endoplasmic reticulum and has been shown to play crucial roles in various physiological phenomena. Type 3 IP 3 R is expressed in taste cells, but the physiological relevance of this receptor in taste perception in vivo is still unknown. Here, we show that mice lacking IP 3 R3 show abnormal behavioral and electrophysiological responses to sweet, umami, and bitter substances that trigger G-proteincoupled receptor activation. In contrast, responses to salty and acid tastes are largely normal in the mutant mice. We conclude that IP 3 R3 is a principal mediator of sweet, bitter, and umami taste perception and would be a missing molecule linking phospholipase C ␤2 to TRPM5 activation.Taste perception is a pivotal and primitive sensory system for survival in animals. By sensing taste, animals are provided with valuable information about foods (e.g. qualities and nature) and can choose the nutrient-rich foods necessary for living or avoid harmful and toxic substances. There are five taste categories (sweet, bitter, umami, sour, and salty), and recent studies have furthered our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of taste perception, especially for sweet, bitter, and umami tastes (1, 2).For perception of sweet, bitter, and umami taste, phospholipase C ␤2 (PLC␤2) 3 activation through G-protein-coupled receptor (sweet, T1R2 ϩ T1R3; umami, T1R1 ϩ T1R3; bitter, T2Rs) (1, 3-8) and the subsequent activation of PLC␤2 and transient-receptor potential receptor M5 (TRPM5) are necessary (8, 9), but the molecular mechanism by which PLC␤2 activation leads to TRPM5 in vivo is still unclear (2). Several reports have suggested the possible involvement of Ca 2ϩ , probably released from the intracellular stores, in the activation of TRPM5 in heterologously expressed cells (10 -14) and in taste cells (15); however this remains controversial (9). Because PLC␤2 activation actually leads to production of both IP 3 and diacylglycerol, it is an important issue to definitely determine, which is a major player for gustatory systems. To clarify whether IP 3 R is necessary for taste perception in vivo, we analyzed the taste signaling of IP 3 R-deficient mice in this study (16). We found that mice lacking IP 3 R3 showed altered taste recognition for sweet, bitter, and umami, whereas they were indistinguishable from wild-type (WT) mice in their recognition for salty and sour stimuli. However, they showed residual responses to high concentrations of sweets and bitter. Our data present the direct validation that IP 3 R3 is a key molecule in taste perception for sweet, bitter, and umami and also suggest the existence of IP 3 R3-independent taste signal transduction for recognition of high dose of these tastants. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURESMice-IP 3 R3-and IP 3 R2-deficient mice were generated as described previously (16), and the mice intercrossed with C57BL/6 mice at least twelve times were used. WT C57BL/6 mice were littermates or purchased from ...