Hypoosmotic stimuli activate a chloride conductance in rat taste cells

The oral cavity is subjected to a wide range of osmotic conditions, yet little is known about how solution osmolarity affects performance of the gustatory system. In order to elucidate the mechanism by which hypoosmotic stimuli affect the peripheral taste system, I have attempted to characterize the effects of hypoosmotic stimuli on individual rat taste receptor cells (TRCs) using whole-cell patch clamp recording. Currents elicited in response to voltage ramps (-90 to +60 mV) were recorded in control saline and in solutions varying only in osmolarity (-30, -60 and -90 mOsm). In roughly two-thirds of cells, hypoosmotic solutions (230 mOsm) caused a 15% increase in cell capacitance and activated a reversible conductance that exhibited marked adaptation in the continued presence of the stimulus. Similar responses could be elicited in taste cells from taste buds in the foliate and vallate papillae, the soft palate, the nasopharynx and the epiglottis. Ion substitution experiments were consistent with the interpretation that the predominant ion carried through these apparent volume- or stretch-activated channels was Cl(-) under normal conditions. Reversal potentials for the hypoosmotic-induced current closely matched those predicted by the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz constant field equation for a Cl(-) conductance. The relative permeability sequence of the hypoosmotic-activated current in TRCs was thiocyanate(-) > or = l(-) > or = Br(-) > Cl(-) > or = F(-) > or = isethionate(-) > gluconate(-). Pharmacological experiments revealed that this Cl(-) conductance was inhibited by 4,4'-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2, 2'-disulfonic acid and 5-nitro-3-(3-phenyl-propylamino)benzoic acid (EC(50) = 1.3 and 4.6 microM, respectively), but not by CdCl(2) (300 microM) nor GdCl(3) (200 microM). I hypothesize that this hypoosmotic-activated Cl(-) conductance, which is similar to the well-characterized swelling-activated Cl(-) current, may contribute to volume regulation and could represent the transduction mechanism by which the presence of hypoosmotic stimuli, including water, may be signaled in taste receptor cells.