Sense of taste in a new world monkey, the common marmoset: recordings from the chorda tympani and glossopharyngeal nerves.

Whole nerve, as well as single fiber, responses in the chorda tympani proper (CT) and glossopharyngeal (NG) nerves of common marmosets were recorded during taste stimulation with three salts, four acids, six bitter compounds and more than 30 sweeteners. We recorded responses of 49 CT and 41 NG taste fibers. The hierarchical cluster analysis distinguished three major clusters in both CT and NG: S, Q, and H.

Gustatory responses of pigs to sixty compounds tasting sweet to humans.

The gustatory responses of pigs to 60 compounds perceived as sweet by humans were studied via a semi-quantitative behavioural method derived from the Richter two-bottle preference test. Among the 60 compounds tested 35 are effective in pigs, but with an effectiveness much lower in pigs than in humans. Lugduname and carrelame, which are the two most potent sweeteners in humans, are also the most effective compounds in pigs.

New hypotheses for the GPCR 3D arrangement based on a molecular model of the human sweet-taste receptor.

A molecular model of the human sweet-taste receptor has been inferred from superpositions of 3D maps of sweetener interaction sites (themselves previously deduced from extensive structure-activity relationship studies on highly potent sweeteners) onto three well-known G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)-rhodopsin, beta(2)- and alpha(2A)-adrenergic receptors-assumed to be linked by common evolutionary origins. The model gives new answers to old questions on the GPCR 3D structure, such as on the orientation and arrangement of the binding helices, their interaxial distances, radial orientations and relative heights. The model should be useful as a new approach to the rational design of drugs.

Responses of the ant Lasius niger to various compounds perceived as sweet in humans: a structure-activity relationship study.

A behavioural study on the ant Lasius niger was performed by observing its feeding responses to 85 compounds presented in a two-choice situation (tested compound versus water control or sucrose solution). Among these compounds, only 21 were phagostimulating: six monosaccharides (D-glucose, 6-deoxy-D-glucose, L-galactose, L-fucose, D-fructose, L-sorbose), four derivatives of D-glucose (methyl alpha-D-glucoside, D-gluconolactone and 6-chloro- and 6-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose), five disaccharides (sucrose, maltose, palatinose, turanose and isomaltose), one polyol glycoside (maltitol), three trisaccharides (melezitose, raffinose and maltotriose) and two polyols (sorbitol and L-iditol). None of the 16 non-carbohydrate non-polyol compounds tested, although perceived as sweet in humans, was found to be active in ants.

Taste preference in nonhuman primates to compounds sweet in man.

Primates have stimulated more interest than any other group as humans are ranked in this same mammalian order. Gustatory responses of human and nonhuman primates have already been compared for compounds such as monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, polyols, amino acids, dipeptides, proteins, dihydrochalcones, sulfamates, saccharin, acesulfame, diterpenes or urea derivatives, all known to be sweet in man. But no rational comparison in primates has been attempted.