Taste of time: A porous-medium model for human tongue surface with implications for early taste perception

Most sensory systems are remarkable in their temporal precision, reflected in such phrases as "a flash of light" or "a twig snap". Yet taste is complicated by the transport processes of stimuli through the papilla matrix to reach taste receptors, processes that are poorly underst...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS computational biology 2020-06, Vol.16 (6), p.e1007888-e1007888
Main Authors: Wu, Zhenxing, Zhao, Kai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology and Life Sciences
Computational biology
Computer applications
Experiments
Food
Medicine and Health Sciences
Methods
Microfibers
Otolaryngology
Perception
Perceptions
Permeability
Physical Sciences
Physiological aspects
Physiological research
Porous materials
Porous media
Psychological aspects
Salty taste
Sensory systems
Simulation
Social Sciences
Stimuli
Sweet taste
Taste
Taste (Sense)
Taste perception
Taste receptors
Taste stimuli
Tongue
Transport processes
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Summary:Most sensory systems are remarkable in their temporal precision, reflected in such phrases as "a flash of light" or "a twig snap". Yet taste is complicated by the transport processes of stimuli through the papilla matrix to reach taste receptors, processes that are poorly understood. We computationally modeled the surface of the human tongue as a microfiber porous medium and found that time-concentration profiles within the papilla zone rise with significant delay that well match experimental ratings of perceived taste intensity to a range of sweet and salty stimuli for both rapid pulses and longer sip-and-hold exposures. Diffusivity of these taste stimuli, determined mostly by molecular size, correlates greatly with time and slope to reach peak intensity: smaller molecular size may lead to quicker taste perception. Our study demonstrates the novelty of modeling the human tongue as a porous material to drastically simplify computational approaches and that peripheral transport processes may significantly affect the temporal profile of taste perception, at least to sweet and salty compounds.
ISSN:1553-7358
1553-734X
1553-7358
DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007888