Oral Chemesthesis: An Integral Component of Flavour

Effects of Carbonated Liquids on Oropharyngeal Swallowing Measures in People with Neurogenic Dysphagia

“…It is theorized that chemesthetic stimuli such as carbonation excite peripheral sensory receptors and activate sensory fibers in the NTS of the brainstem, which is the main structure responsible for swallow initiation [16,17,19,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51]. Although in the present study CTL did not elicit a faster swallowing response, it did significantly decrease penetration and aspiration compared to NCTL.…”

“…Oral chemesthesis is the sense of chemical irritation (e.g., cooling, burning, tingling) to common somesthetic receptors elicited by a variety of chemical stimuli, including salts, acids, capsaicin, menthol, and carbonation. Oral chemesthesis is mediated by the trigeminal nerve, which is the main chemosensory pathway along with the glossopharyngeal and the vagus nerve [8,13,[15][16][17][18][19][20]. The majority of the research on the effects of chemesthetic stimuli on swallowing has focused on the effects of citric acid [21][22][23].…”

Effects of Club Soda and Ginger Brew on Linguapalatal Pressures in Healthy Swallowing

“…The specific receptors for carbonation and gingerol differ, but both are likely to elicit the perception of heat [16,19,20,31]. Carbonation irritates oral mucosal nociceptors when carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) dissolved in a beverage reacts with the salivary enzyme carbonic anhydrase 4 to form carbonic acid (H 2 CO 3 ) [32,33].…”

“…Some of these receptors are activated by both hot temperature and chemical compounds such as capsaicin in hot peppers, gingerol in ginger, or carbonation (simulating a sense of heat), and other receptors are activated by cold temperatures and by chemicals like menthol (simulating a sense of cold) [19]. The receptor cells that detect these chemicals are distributed throughout the oral epithelium, particularly on the tongue, and are mediated by the trigeminal and glossopharyngeal nerves [19,20].…”

Book Review: ‘Neurogastronomy: how the brain creates flavor and why it matters’ by Gordon M. Shepherd

“…It is hard to know, for example, what an up-and-coming chef interested in learning more about the brain and how the latest neuroscience insights could be used to enhance the dishes that they deliver to the table would make of the following sentence: 'It was already known that cyclic AMP occurs in a signaling pathway that starts with a receptor that gives a microkick to a so-called G protein, which forms a large class of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)' ( [1], p. 51). Now, it could certainly be said that a book on flavour perception need go no further than the senses of taste (or gustation), smell, and possibly also the trigeminal sense (for example, [11]). Indeed, according to the International Standards Organization [12,13], flavour is defined as a: 'Complex combination of the olfactory, gustatory and trigeminal sensations perceived during tasting.…”