Possible function of estrogen on the taste transduction system.

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The present study demonstrated for the first time the localization and pattern of expression of key enzymes for steroidogenesis, cytochrome P450 side-chain-cleavage (P450scc) and P450 aromatase, in the taste buds of rat circumvallate papillae, using immunoblot analyses and immunohistochemistry. Immunoblot analyses showed that proteins with a molecular weight close to that of rat adrenal cytochrome P450scc and a molecular weight close to that of rat ovary cytochrome P450 aromatase were present in the rat circumvallate papillae. In immunohistochemistry, antibodies against cytochrome P450scc and P450aromatase yielded the labelings of a subset of taste bud cells. In double immunolabeling of P450scc and α-gustducin or phospholipase Cβ2 (PLCβ2), which were considered as markers of a majority of type II cells, P450scc co-expressed in a subset of α-gustducin or PLCβ2, but did not co-express major type III cell marker, neural adhesion molecule (NCAM). Further double immunolabeled studies showed that P450aromatase co-expressed in a subset of α-gustducin or PLCβ2, but did not co-express PGP9.5, a marker of a majority of type III cell. The selective localization of cytochrome P450scc and P450aromatase strongly suggests that estrogen biosynthesis from cholesterol might occur in a subset of type II cells of the rat taste buds. Although the full significance of estrogens in the taste bud function is not yet understand, estrogens appears to be an important regulator of taste transduction, as is the case with ATP (Finger et al., 2005), which further supports the centrality of taste cells in the life of taste buds.