Patients with phantogeusia show increased expression of T2R taste receptor genes in their tongues.

Objectives: The taste receptor gene family T2R has been implicated in the sensation of bitter taste. Phantogeusia is a spontaneous abnormal taste with no external stimulus. We analyzed the expression of T2R taste receptor genes in the tongues of patients with phantogeusia to assess their role in the pathogenesis of phantogeusia.

Patients with hypogeusia show changes in expression of T2R taste receptor genes in their tongues.

Objectives/hypothesis: Taste receptor genes associated with bitterness belong to the T2R gene family. In this study, we compared the expression of genes of the T2R family in the tongues of patients with hypogeusia to those in healthy subjects and examined the possibility that T2R genes are involved in the pathogenesis of hypogeusia.

Study Design: Prospective clinical and basic study.

Clinical study of central taste disorders and discussion of the central gustatory pathway.

The aim of this work is to examine the clinical findings of patients with taste disorders due to central lesions and also to study the central gustatory pathway in humans. We conducted a retrospective review of 13 patients with central taste disorders that visited Nihon University Itabashi Hospital. An additional 25 cases with central taste disorders previously reported in the literature were assessed in the study.

Facial nerve paralysis caused by middle ear cholesteatoma and effects of surgical intervention.

Conclusions: The clinical and surgical findings of this study indicated advanced cholesteatoma in many patients with facial paralysis. The outcome of facial paralysis was good. Poor outcomes were observed in cases with petrosal cholesteatoma and in those who underwent surgery > or = 2 months after the onset of paralysis.

Laterality of human primary gustatory cortex studied by MEG.

We examined the laterality of the human gustatory neural pathway by measuring gustatory-evoked magnetic fields (GEMfs) and demonstrating the activation of the human primary gustatory cortex (PGC). In patients whose chorda tympani nerve had been severed unilaterally on the right side, we stimulated the normal side (i.e.