Thermal stimulation of taste

The first electrophysiological recordings from animal and human taste nerves gave clear evidence of thermal sensitivity, and studies have shown that as many as half of the neurons in mammalian taste pathways respond to temperature. Because temperature has never been shown to induce sensations of tas...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2000-02, Vol.403 (6772), p.889-892
Main Authors: Green, Barry G, Cruz, Alberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Body Temperature - physiology
Chorda Tympani Nerve - physiology
Cold Temperature
Cooling
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Glossopharyngeal Nerve - physiology
Heating
Hot Temperature
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
letter
Male
multidisciplinary
Neurons, Afferent - physiology
Olfaction. Taste
Perception
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Senses
Taste
Taste - physiology
Taste Buds - physiology
Temperature
Thermoreceptors - physiology
Tongue
Tongue - physiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The first electrophysiological recordings from animal and human taste nerves gave clear evidence of thermal sensitivity, and studies have shown that as many as half of the neurons in mammalian taste pathways respond to temperature. Because temperature has never been shown to induce sensations of taste, it has been assumed that thermal stimulation in the gustatory system is somehow nulled. Here we show that heating or cooling small areas of the tongue can in fact cause sensations of taste: warming the anterior edge of the tongue (chorda tympani nerve) from a cold temperature can evoke sweetness, whereas cooling can evoke sourness and/or saltiness. Thermal taste also occurs on the rear of the tongue (glossopharyngeal nerve), but the relationship between temperature and taste is different there than on the front of the tongue. These observations indicate the human gustatory system contains several different types of thermally sensitive neurons that normally contribute to the sensory code for taste.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/35002581