PSYCHOPHYSICAL EVALUATION OF TASTE FUNCTION

描述：（改编自申请人摘要） 据估计，超过200万美国人患有各种各样的疾病。 化学感觉障碍，包括味觉功能障碍。这些 严重损害生活质量， 暴露于与健康有关的风险。动物的发展 模型，其中味觉系统可以通过实验来操纵， 对于了解正常和异常的潜在神经生物学至关重要， 味觉功能异常感觉的心理物理评估， 任何非人类动物的感知都是具有挑战性的，但这是绝对必要的。 总体分析战略的一个组成部分， 感觉功能的神经生物学在过去的20年里，一些近亲繁殖的 小鼠品系已被鉴定为表达不同于 关于原型味道化合物的摄取， 包括糖、生物碱和盐。在某些情况下，同源系已经被 从这些祖先菌株衍生而来。此外，味觉相关的靶向基因 小鼠中的缺失和插入制备物已经开始出现。只有 除了少数值得注意的例外，所有这些行为表型都已被确定， 通过使用解释性有限的长期摄入测试。具体 本研究的目的是：1）适应当前的心理物理学 已成功用于评估大鼠味觉功能的程序 用于小鼠，2）精神病学测试的假设， 在所选择的样品之间的典型味道化合物的摄入量的差异 小鼠的近交系归因于味觉过程，以及3） 确定味觉功能的哪些维度在所选近交系中不同 小鼠品系。使用理论上相关的一系列典型口味 化合物，PI将测试小鼠的情感反应，阈值 敏感性和辨别能力。A.广泛使用 疑似具有不同味觉表型的近交系 反应性，B）分子技术的快速发展步伐， 识别和选择性地操纵小鼠基因组，以及c） trans-NIH小鼠基因组计划，拟议的研究是及时的， 重要的是，并可能促进我们的理解， 味觉功能的神经生物学基础。

DESCRIPTION:(adapted from applicant's abstract) It is estimated that more than 2 million Americans suffer from a variety of chemosensory disorders, including impairments of gustatory function. These impairments significantly detract from the quality of life and increase exposure to health-related risks. Accordingly, the development of animal models, in which the gustatory system can be experimentally manipulated, is essential to gain an understanding of the underlying neurobiology of normal and abnormal taste function. The psychophysical assessment of sensation and perception in any nonhuman animal is challenging, but an absolutely necessary component to the overall analytical strategy aimed at understanding the neurobiology of sensory function. Over the last 2 decades, several inbred strains of mice have been identified as expressing phenotypes that differ from each other with respect to the ingestion of prototypical taste compounds, including sugars, alkaloids and salts. In some cases, congenic lines have been derived from these progenitor strains. In addition, taste-related targeted gene deletion and insertion preparations in mice have begun to appear. With only a few notable exceptions, all of these behavioral phenotypes have been identified through the use of interpretively limited long-term intake tests. The specific aims of the proposed research are: 1) to adapt current psychophysical procedures that have successfully been used to assess taste function in rats for use with mice, 2) to psychophysically test the hypothesis that significant differences in the intake of prototypical taste compounds between selected inbred strains of mice are attributable to gustatory processes, and 3) to determine which dimensions of gustatory function differ among selected inbred strains of mice. Using a theoretically relevant array of prototypical taste compounds, the PI will test mice for their affective responsiveness, threshold sensitivity, and discriminative capacity. Given: a) the wide availability of inbred strains suspected of possessing differing phenotypes in taste responsiveness, b) the rapid developmental pace of molecular techniques to discern and selectively manipulate the mouse genome, and c) the emergence of the trans-NIH mouse genome initiative, the proposed research is timely and important, and will likely facilitate advances in our understanding of the neurobiological basis of gustatory function.