PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) supertasters and the saltiness of NaCl
PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) supertasters and the saltiness of NaCl
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb10660.x
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发表时间：
1998-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Fast, K
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bartoshuk, LM;Duffy, VB;Fast, K
对苯硫脲（PTC）及其化学相关物6-正丙基硫氧嘧啶（PROP）的味觉盲在20世纪30年代被发现。家族研究表明，那些不能品尝PTC/PROP的人（非味觉者）携带两个隐性等位基因。近年来，我们将味觉者分为两类：中等味觉者（PROP是中等苦味）和超级味觉者（PROP是强烈苦味）。根据我们的分类，大约25%的美国人是无味觉者，50%是中等味觉者，25%是超级味觉者。研究表明，味觉超级者形成了一个有凝聚力的群体。解剖学研究表明，味觉超敏者的菌状乳头最多。心理物理学研究表明，味觉超敏者从各种化合物中感知到最强烈的苦味和甜味，从口腔刺激物中感知到最强烈的烧灼感，从粘性溶液中感知到最强烈的触觉。口腔烧灼感和触觉被认为是味觉超敏者最强烈的感觉，因为菌状乳头中的味蕾受三叉神经（疼痛、触觉）和鼓索神经（味觉）的支配。使用这种方法，受试者对一系列NaCl和PROP溶液的强度进行评级。假设NaCl的味道不随PROP状态而变化，可以比较受试者之间PROP的苦味。早期的震级匹配研究，使用声音作为对照，表明这种假设是合理的。然而，最近的研究对这一结论提出了质疑。更大的样本与更多样化的人群，使用声音作为对照，表明不同的PROP苦味的NaCl的味道; supertasters认为最强的味道和nontasters，最弱的。因此，我们早期的结论是保守的，因为用NaCl作为标准掩盖了无味觉者、中等味觉者和超级味觉者之间的差异。使用与声音匹配的幅度作为标准，或者使用强度标签的绿色尺度，我们发现PROP组之间的差异更大。请注意，PROP状态和盐味之间的关联本身是有趣的，因为盐味的变化可能具有重要的营养后果。
Taste blindness to phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and its chemical relative 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) was discovered in the 1930s. Family studies showed that those who could not taste PTC/PROP (nontasters) carried two recessive alleles. In recent years, we have classified tasters into two groups: medium (PROP is moderately bitter) and supertasters (PROP is intensely bitter). With our classification, similar to 25% of Americans are nontasters, 50%, medium tasters, and 25%, supertasters. Studies showed that supertasters form a cohesive group. Anatomical studies showed that supertasters have the most fungiform papillae. Psychophysical studies showed that supertasters perceive the most intense bitterness and sweetness from a variety of compounds, the most intense burn from oral irritants, and the most intense tactile sensations from viscous solutions. Oral burn and touch are presumably perceived to be the most intense to supertasters because taste buds in fungiform papillae are innervated by the trigeminal nerve (pain, touch) as well as the chorda tympani nerve (taste).The psychophysical scaling method used was magnitude matching with NaCl as the control modality. With this method, subjects rated the intensities of a series of NaCl and PROP solutions. The assumption that the taste of NaCl did not vary with PROP status allowed comparisons of the bitterness of PROP across subjects. Early magnitude matching studies, using sound as the control, had suggested that this assumption was reasonable. However, recent studies challenged that conclusion. Larger samples with more diverse populations, using sound as the control, showed that the taste of NaCl varied with PROP bitterness; supertasters perceived the strongest taste and nontasters, the weakest. Thus our earlier conclusions were conservative because differences between nontasters, medium tasters, and supertasters were concealed by using NaCl as a standard. Using magnitude matching with sound as the standard, or using the Green scale, which employs intensity labels, we found that the differences between PROP groups are larger. Note that the association between PROP status and salt taste is interesting in itself, since variability in salt taste may have important nutritional consequences.