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Taste perception - Taste receptors

5 important questions on Taste perception - Taste receptors

Which 3 papillae exist, where they are located and how many taste buds they contain?

Circumvallate --> back of the tongue --> thousands of taste buds
Foliate --> posterior lateral edge --> hundreds of taste buds
Fungiform --> anterior two-thirds of the tongue --> few taste buds

What is the site of interaction with tastants?

The 'taste pore'. Microvilli are projected by TRCs to the apical surface of the taste bud. It is the top of the taste bud.

Which 2 views are there on how taste modalities are perceived by TCRs and how signals are transported through neurons?

Labelled-lines model
Across-fibre model

What is the labelled-lines model?

Each TRC only contains the receptors for one of the five basic taste modalities. All TCRs for a particular taste in one taste bud combine into a single neutron. In this case, each taste modality is registered by non-overlapping cells and fibres.

What is the across-fibre model?

It comprises 2 contrasting submodels. Neurons are transporting the signals to the brain are not specialised for individual taste modalities, but that different signals registered by various TRCs are transported via the same neutron.

Sub-models

Each TRC contains the receptors for each of the five basic taste modalities
Each TRC registers one of the basic taste modalities, but the signals from TRCs detecting different taste modalities can be transported to the brain by the same neuron

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Chemical aspects

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