NESC 2570 Lecture Notes - Retinoid, Tropomyosin Receptor Kinase A, Taste Bud
26 Nov 2012
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With five taste receptors: bitter, sour, sweet, umami (is an amino acid receptor, msg, salty. Made up of taste receptor cells: have very short axons, make their synapses with afferent axons right on the tongue. Each receptor type is found in its own cell. Bitter, sweet, and umami receptors utilize 7-transmembrane g-protein coupled receptors. All these receptors have a relatively slow onset and offset of transduction signalling. Voltage gated sodium, potassium, and calcium channels are responsible for the changes in membrane potential. Increased levels of sodium outside the cell cause a sodium influx, which causes a depolarization of the cell. This taste is caused by acid (hydrogen ions) Enter the taste cell through a pkd variant trp channel: which is highly proton permeable. The influx of hydrogen ions causes depolarization. *protons are usually responsible for blocking ion channels, but this special trp channel allows for the influx of these hydrogen ions*
