Structural comparisons of human and mouse fungiform taste buds.

Taste buds are commonly studied in rodent models, but some differences exist between mice and humans in terms of gustatory mechanisms and sensitivities. Whether these functional differences are reflected in structural differences between species is unclear. Using immunofluorescent image stacks, we compared morphological and molecular characteristics of mouse and human fungiform taste buds.

Purinergic neurotransmission in the gustatory system.

Taste buds consist of specialized epithelial cells which detect particular tastants and synapse onto the afferent taste nerve innervating the endorgan. The nature of the neurotransmitter released by taste cells onto the nerve fiber was enigmatic early in this century although neurotransmitters for other sensory receptor cell types, e.g.

Cellular Diversity and Regeneration in Taste Buds.

Taste buds are the sensory end organs for gustation, mediating sensations of salty, sour, bitter, sweet and umami as well as other possible modalities, e.g. fat and kokumi.

Feeding patterns and brain evolution in ostariophysean fishes.

The sense of taste plays a crucial role in a fish's ability to locate and select appropriate food. Functionally, the taste system is divisible into two subsystems, with external taste, utilized to locate food in the environment, being mediated by the facial nerve while intraoral taste, crucial for triggering swallowing, is mediated by the vagus nerve. Each of these nerves connects to its own portion of the medullary viscerosensory column.