Chorda tympani taste nerve responses to NaCl can be dissected pharmacologically into amiloride-sensitive and -insensitive components. It is now established that the amiloride-sensitive, epithelial sodium channel acts as a sodium-specific ion detector in taste receptor cells (TRCs). Much less is known regarding the cellular origin of the amiloride-insensitive component, but its anion dependence indicates an important role for paracellular shunts in the determination of its magnitude. However, this has not precluded the possibility that undetected apical membrane ion pathways in TRCs may also contribute to its origin. Progress toward making such a determination has suffered from lack of a pharmacological probe for an apical amiloride-insensitive taste pathway. We present data here showing that, depending on the concentration used, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) can either enhance or inhibit the amiloride-insensitive response to NaCl. The CPC concentration giving maximal enhancement was 250 microM. At 2 mM, CPC inhibited the entire amiloride-insensitive part of the NaCl response. The NaCl response is, therefore, composed entirely of amiloride- and CPC-sensitive components. The magnitude of the maximally enhanced CPC-sensitive component varied with the NaCl concentration and was half-maximal at [NaCl] = 62 +/- 11 (SE) mM. This was significantly less than the corresponding parameter for the amiloride-sensitive component (268 +/- 71 mM). CPC had similar effects on KCl and NH(4)Cl responses except that in these cases, after inhibition with 2 mM CPC, a significant CPC-insensitive response remained. CPC (2 mM) inhibited intracellular acidification of TRCs due to apically presented NH(4)Cl, suggesting that CPC acts on an apical membrane nonselective cation pathway.
A receptrode biosensor is presented that uses intact chemoreceptor-based molecular recognition from antennular structures of the Hawaiian swimming crab species Portunis sanguinolentus. The sensor is coupled to a learning, pattern recognition calculation for performing analytical chemistry. Action potential waveforms are used to establish the identity of individual action potential types that can be associated to particular analytes. The pattern recognition calculations used are referred to as cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Action potential similarities are determined by using a dendrogram plot of the cluster analysis results and further elucidated by using principal component scores plots. Quantitative analysis was performed after classification of analyte and background responses. Chemoresponses to salinity and trimethylamine N-oxide, two chemical constituents that are found in the crustacean living environment, were investigated and gave analytic responses over several orders of magnitude.
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