Effect of Receptive Field on Bitter Taste Coding

最近的行为和神经证据表明，一些苦味刺激可能能够激活离子 啮齿类动物口腔前部的通道，而其他非离子苦味刺激可能是有限的 到口腔后部的激活。这一系列实验旨在检验 苦味的感觉是由中央味觉系统编码的，特别是关于如何 根据刺激的感受野和苦味的化学结构，信息可能会发生变化 使用的刺激物。这将通过记录味觉中单个神经元的动作电位来完成 孤束核和臂旁核的区域，同时刺激更多的后部 具有各种味觉刺激的感受野(即叶状和环状乳突)。尽管 支配这些乳头的舌咽神经对苦味刺激高度敏感，它们的作用 在CMS水平上的味觉还没有建立起来。这在一定程度上可能是因为 其他措施，包括缝合和移液器，是有效刺激这些接受性的必要措施。 菲尔兹。还将进行一项心理物理实验，以便在 清醒动物中枢神经系统水平的反应和苦味知觉。这将通过以下方式实现 在苦味刺激行为测试前切断多组周围味觉神经 可以确定由这些神经支配的区域中味觉感受器细胞的数量。 虽然我们通常认为苦味食物是有毒的，但一些富含维生素的食物，如 西兰花和羽衣甘蓝也被人类受试者描述为尝起来苦。如果我们能更好地理解 苦味是如何被味觉系统编码的，也许这个信息可以用来改善 某些药物和/或健康食品的味道。

Recent behavioral and neural evidence suggests that some bitter stimuli may be capable of activating ion channels in the anterior portion of the oral cavity in rodents, while other nonionic bitter stimuli may be limited to activation of the posterior region of the mouth. This series of experiments is designed to examine how the sensation of bitterness is encoded by the central gustatory system, specifically with regard to how this nformation might change depending on the receptive fields stimulated and the chemical structure of bitter stimuli used. This will be accomplished by recording action potentials from single neurons in the gustatory regions of nucleus of the solitary tract and parabrachial nucleus, while stimulating the more posterior receptive fields (i.e. the foliate and circumvallate papillae) with a variety of taste stimuli. Although the glossopharyngeal nerve, which innervates these papillae, is highly sensitive to bitter stimuli, their contribution to taste perception at the level of the CMS has not been established. This may be due in part to the fact that additional measures, including sutures and pipettes, are necessary to effectively stimulate these receptive fields. A psychophysical experiment will also be performed so that parallels can be drawn between responses at the level of the CNS and bitter taste perception in awake animals. This will be accomplished by severing sets of peripheral gustatory nerves prior to behavioral testing with bitter stimuli so that the influence of taste receptor cells in the fields innervated by these nerves can be determined. Although we typically think of bitter-tasting foods as being toxic, a number of vitamin-rich foods, such as broccoli and kale, have also been described as tasting bitter by human subjects. If we can better understand how bitter taste is encoded by the gustatory system, perhaps this information could be used to improve the taste of certain medications and/or healthy foods.