Taste transduction: appetizing times in gustation.

Taste receptors cells sample the chemical composition of ingested material in order to provide the initial sensory information to facilitate decisions regarding its eventual acceptance or rejection. Ion channels, ionotropic and metabotropic receptors have been implicated in the initial events of transduction but until recently their identification has proven difficult. Recent advances in the identification and functional characterization of mammalian taste receptors has greatly increased our understanding of the pathways for the transduction of taste stimuli. This basic information will be critical to answer longstanding questions regarding the coding of taste information and may help elucidate the role of the taste system in the control of food intake.