ANP 1106 Chapter Notes -Umami, Caffeine, Saccharin

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Anatomy and Physiology
• Course: ANP 1106
• Professor: Jacqueline Carnegie

Document Summary

The receptors for gustation and olfaction are chemoreceptors that respond to chemicals in an aqueous solution. The receptors complement each other and respond to different classes of chemicals. Taste receptors are excited by food chemicals dissolved in saliva. Smell receptors are excited by airborne chemicals that dissolve in fluids coating the nasal membrane. The olfactory epithelium acts as the organ of smell. Air entering the nasal cavity must make a hairpin turn to stimulate olfactory receptors before entering the respiratory passageway below. Sniffing draws more air superiorly across the olfactory epithelium and intensifies the sense of smell. The olfactory epithelium covers the superior nasal concha on each side of the nasal septum and contains millions of olfactory receptors. Olfactory receptors are surrounded and cushioned by columnar supporting cells that make up the bulk of the epithelial membrane. Basal cells lie at the base of the epithelium.