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Updated: May 15, 2026
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Whole-Mount Staining, Visualization, and Analysis of Fungiform, Circumvallate, and Palate Taste Buds
Published on: February 11, 2021
Taste buds as peripheral chemosensory processors.
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and Program in Neuroscience, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, 1600 NW 10th Ave., Miami, FL 33136, USA. sroper@med.miami.edu
Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology
|December 25, 2012
Summary
Taste buds use various cells and chemical transmitters like ATP and serotonin to communicate during taste perception. This cell-to-cell signaling is crucial for how we experience flavors.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cell Biology
- Sensory Science
Background:
- Taste buds are chemosensory organs in the mouth, composed of 50-100 cells.
- Mammalian taste buds contain Type I (glial-like), Type II (receptor), and Type III (presynaptic) cells.
- The specific cell types responsible for salt taste detection remain unidentified.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the diverse cell types within taste buds.
- To identify the various chemical transmitters involved in gustatory stimulation.
- To understand how cell-cell communication shapes taste signaling.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on taste bud cell types and transmitters.
- Analysis of synaptic, autocrine, and paracrine signaling pathways.
- Examination of transmitter release and postsynaptic targets.
Main Results:
- Type I cells function as glial-like cells.
- Type II cells detect sweet, bitter, and umami tastes via G protein-coupled receptors.
- Type III cells are responsible for sour taste transduction.
Conclusions:
- Taste bud cells communicate using transmitters like ATP, acetylcholine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and GABA.
- Glutamate acts as an efferent transmitter, stimulating Type III cells to release serotonin.
- Cell-cell interactions mediated by these transmitters are fundamental to taste bud signaling.
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