Pharmaco-histochemical studies on a specific monoamine in the gustatory epithelia of the rabbit

The foliate, vallate and fungiform papillae of the rabbit's tongue were studied fluorescence-histochemically under normal and experimental conditions. In normal animals a yellow fluorescence suggesting the presence of a serotonin-like monoamine was demonstrated only in taste bud cells of the foliate papilla, though its intensity was very weak. The fluorescence disappeared completely following reserpine treatment, while it was significantly enhanced by the treatment with nialamide. The fluorescence of taste bud cells could be clearly distinguished from that of catecholamines by the treatment with alpha-MMT followed by nialamide. When 5-HTP, 5-HT and 5,6-DHT were administered separately, each of these drugs was selectively taken up in taste bud cells of the foliate and vallate papillae, but no fluorescent cells were observed in the fungiform papilla. From the present results, it seems reasonable to conclude that the fluorigenic amine of taste bud cells may be 5-HT (serotonin), or at least an indoleamine derivative. Also, it is suggested that the taste bud of the vallate papilla contains a cell type which can potentially synthesize a biogenic amine in situ, or is actually synthesizing it in a very small amount just like in the case of the taste bud of the foliate one.