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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

New Methods to Study Gustatory Coding
Published on: June 29, 2017
Neuron types, receptors, behavior, and taste quality
1Department of Oral Diagnosis, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington 06030-1605, USA. mfrank@neuron.uchc.edu
Abstract:
Neurophysiological studies on chorda tympani (CT) single fibers and behavioral studies on generalization of learned aversions in hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) are reviewed. The work on hamsters is compared to work on other species, including the laboratory rat and several primate species, including humans. This body of data demonstrates associations between response profiles of physiologically defined specialist CT neurons and behavioral stimulus generalizations on one hand, and characteristics of putative taste receptors, on the other. Response profiles of generalist CT neurons are similarly associated with receptor characteristics, but are not associated with specific behavioral discriminations. The associations of peripheral nerve data with both receptor and behavior strongly suggest specific codes for "sucrose-like" and "NaCl-like" taste qualities. Definitive conclusions regarding "patterns" or "labeled lines" requires an understanding of mechanisms of central neural processing of the several specialist and generalist taste-afferent inputs.
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