A “bitter” end to asthma revealed

Taste Receptors Type 2 Would Not Mediate Bitter Tastant-Induced Relaxation of Airway Smooth Muscle

“…Above results indicate that bitter tastants would be potent bronchodilators, which can be used to treat obstructive lung diseases such as asthma and COPD [11][12][13][14][15][16], particularly based on that bitter tastants inhibit the pre contraction of human ASM [14,15]. However, the inhibitory action of bitter tastants to ASM contraction might not be through the TAS2Rs on the basis of the above descriptions.…”

Tas2R activation relaxes airway smooth muscle by release of Gα t targeting on AChR signaling

“…Airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) are reported to abundantly express an array of Tas2R receptors, and agonistic activation of these receptors can efficiently release bronchoconstriction ( 8 – 10 ). As current beta2-adrenergic agonist receptors are subject to tachyphylaxis and other side effects ( 9 ), Tas2R agonists are considered a new generation of antiasthma drugs ( 11 – 13 ). We previously identified a class of bitter substances, kudinosides, that has a unique structure of trepenoids and shows an extraordinary capacity to relax ASM ( 14 ).…”