SGER - Intracellular Recordings in Rat Taste Cells: A Novel Approach

9317720 Mierson哺乳动物味觉受体细胞的几个功能特性是未知的。虽然我们对味觉行为、中枢解剖学和神经生理学的大部分知识都来自哺乳动物的研究，但两栖动物的味觉受体特性要比哺乳动物的大得多，因此更容易被微电极接触到。这个SGER项目开发了一种新的方法来测量哺乳动物味觉细胞的细胞内电压和离子浓度，以探索这些未知的特性。从味蕾基底侧的方法可以从视觉上识别味蕾细胞，并且可以从面向神经的基底侧和面向味觉刺激的根尖侧对组织进行化学和电操作。结果允许测试生物物理学和味觉受体适应机制的数学模型。新方法的技术难度带来了风险，但允许测试新的假设，即哺乳动物味觉的感觉适应发生在这些受体细胞中，而不是在神经中。这项工作的影响超出了味觉和化学感觉神经生理学，延伸到上皮生理学领域，其中细胞内电流和跨上皮电流的关系很重要，以及生物学中的计算建模。＊＊＊

9317720 Mierson Several functional properties of receptor cells for taste in mammals are unknown. Although most of our knowledge of taste behavior, central anatomy, and nerve physiology comes from mammalian studies, amphibian taste receptor properties are far better known because these cells are much larger than those in mammals, and so are more accessible to microelectrodes. This SGER project develops a new method for measuring the intracellular voltages and ion concentrations in mammalian taste cells, to explore these unknown properties. An approach from the basal side of the taste bud makes it possible to visually identify taste bud cells, and to chemically and electrically manipulate the tissue from both the basal side facing the nerves, and the apical side facing the tastant stimuli. Results allow testing a mathematical model of the biophysics and mechanisms of adaptation in taste receptors. The technological difficulty of the new approach presents risks, but allows testing the novel hypothesis that sensory adaptation in mammalian taste occurs within these receptor cells, rather than in the nerve. The impact of this work extends beyond taste and chemosensory neurophysiology, to the field of epithelial physiology where the relation of intracellular to trans-epithelial currents is important, and to computational modeling in biology. ***