The rate and locus of development of rat vallate taste buds

Several hundred taste buds develop and mature in the trench walls of the rat's vallate papilla during the first 3 months after birth. The objective of this investigation of taste bud development was to determine: (i) whether the vallate papilla has local growth zones where new taste buds form, (ii) whether new taste buds arise by the division of mature taste buds, (iii) how many days are required for a new taste bud to mature, and (iv) whether a taste pore forms as the taste bud reaches a critical volume. Camera lucida drawings were made of more than 4000 iron hematoxylin-stained, serially sectioned, vallate taste buds. The relative abundance of immature taste buds declined exponentially with age, from 18% of the mature taste buds at day 15 to 2% at day 90. At days 21, 33 and 45 most of the immature taste buds (those lacking a taste pore) were located in growth zones at the anterior and posterior extremes of the vallate trench. A mean of 10.5 days was required for the maturation of each cohort of immature taste buds present at days 15, 21, 33 and 45. Vallate taste buds were added de novo; fission of mature taste buds was rare. Taste buds varied widely in the taste bud volume at which a pore formed and in the final volume of the taste bud.