What the tongue tells the brain about taste
What the tongue tells the brain about taste
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DOI：
10.1093/chemse/bjh117
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发表时间：
2005-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Hettinger, TP
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Frank, ME;Hettinger, TP
对味觉有特殊意义的化学刺激是糖（甜）、氨基酸（鲜）、氯化钠和其他盐（咸）、生物碱（苦）和酸（酸）。糖和氨基酸往往是首选，而生物碱和酸往往是避免。盐的摄入取决于电解质平衡。味觉系统对味觉品质及其相关的享乐属性进行编码。区分食物和毒素的能力是如此重要，以至于受体细胞本身就具有这种能力。然而，尽管有目的性的吸引力，营养价值和毒性本身都不是一个编码的刺激维度。甜和苦可能分别被认为是营养和有毒的隐喻。毒性和营养不是刺激物的化学性质，也不是感官的性质。它们是根据关键的代谢事件来定义的，其中大多数是感觉之外的。例如，蔗糖和糖精都是甜的，但糖精没有热量值。盐（如NaCl和LiCl）的味道相似，但锂盐是有毒的，而钠盐则没有。有许多例子表明，神经毒素是无味的，但毒性极大。士的宁和八乙酸蔗糖（SOA）都是苦的，虽然士的宁有毒，而SOA没有。
The chemical stimuli of special significance to taste are sugars (sweet), amino acids (umami), sodium chloride and other salts (salty), alkaloids (bitter) and acids (sour). Sugars and amino acids tend to be preferred, while alkaloids and acids tend to be avoided. Intake of salts depends on electrolyte balance. The gustatory system codes taste qualities and their associated hedonic attributes. The ability to distinguish foods from poisons is so important that it is hard-wired in the receptor cells themselves. Yet despite teleological appeal, neither nutritional value nor toxicity is a stimulus dimension that is coded per se. Sweet and bitter may be considered metaphors for nutritious and toxic, respectively. Toxicity and nutrition are not chemical properties of a stimulus nor are they properties of the senses. They are defined in terms of critical metabolic events, most of which are beyond sensation. For example, sucrose and saccharin are both sweet, but saccharin has no caloric value. Salts such as NaCl and LiCl have similar tastes, yet lithium salts are toxic but sodium salts are not. There are many examples of neurotoxins that are tasteless yet extremely toxic. Strychnine and sucrose octaacetate (SOA) are both bitter, though strychnine is toxic while SOA is not.