Transport Mechanisms in Mammalian Taste Transduction

味觉是一个复杂的过程，始于舌头， 细胞的表面层，上皮，包含味蕾。 许多味觉化合物可能与特定的受体分子结合 在味觉细胞膜上。 但是盐形成了一个整体 一类在溶液中产生离子的促味剂，现在 被认为可以直接刺激味蕾细胞， 穿过细胞膜的运输过程。 这些离子可以使用 膜中的特定通道以类似于使用 离子通道刺激神经的可兴奋膜， 肌肉. 了解味觉传导，通过这种传导， 刺激特异性地激发感觉细胞，是 化学感受系统研究 这个项目将通过连接味觉传导 舌上皮组织的生理学实验 味觉感受器的神经生理学 体外舌组织将 经过测试，可以精确测量离子流， 离子运输过程的模型将通过上皮细胞 通过与实验数据的比较进行改进和扩展。 这些数据将与已知的味觉刺激数据进行比较 神经生理学实验中的神经。 实验和 建模应该解决味觉传导的哪些方面可以 可以用舌上皮的特性来解释。 模型 包括所有组成膜的组织， 味蕾所嵌入的上皮的拓扑结构; 该模型可以被扩展以包括不同的细胞类型 不同的离子 这项研究涉及一个新的定量 方法的味道机制，与强大的融合， 数学，化学和生物学;它可能在分析中有用 食品工业中的促味剂相互作用， 对化学感受科学和神经生理学的影响。

Taste is a complex process beginning in the tongue, where the surface layer of cells, the epithelium, contains taste buds. Many taste compounds probably bind to specific receptor molecules on membrane of the taste sensory cells. But salts form a whole class of tastants that produce ions in solution, and now are thought to stimulate the cells of the taste buds directly, by transport processes across the cell membrane. These ions may use specific channels in the membrane in a way similar to the use of ionic channels in to stimulate excitable membranes of nerve and muscle. Understanding taste transduction, by which a particular stimulus specifically excites a sensory cell, is a major goal of chemosensory systems research. This project will approach taste transduction by linking experiments on the physiology of tongue epithelial tissue with neurophysiology of taste receptors. In vitro tongue tissue will be tested to precisely measure ionic flows, and a mathematical model of ionic transport processes across the epithelium will be refined and expanded by comparisons to data from experiments. These data will be compared to known data on excitation of taste nerves from neurophysiology experiments. Experiments and modelling should resolve which aspects of taste transduction can be explained by properties of the tongue epithelium. The model incorporates organization of all the component membranes, and the topology of the epithelium in which the taste buds are imbedded; the model can be extended to include different cell types and different ions. This study involves a novel quantitative approach to taste mechanisms, with a powerful merging of mathematics, chemistry, and biology; it may be useful in analyses of tastant interactions by the food industry, and will have high impact in chemosensory science and neurophysiology as well.