Mizushige Takafumi, Inoue Kazuo, Fushiki Tohru
Laboratory of Nutrition Chemistry, Division of Food Science and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan.
J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2007 Feb;53(1):1-4. doi: 10.3177/jnsv.53.1.
Fatty foods are very palatable. Most mammals, including humans, prefer high-fat food to low-fat food. Neuropeptides and neurotransmitters, which are related to the hedonic or aversive response in the brain, are released after a basic tastant (i.e., sweet, sour, salty, bitter or umami) is accepted by the taste receptors in the taste bud cells. In addition, recent evidence suggests that dietary fat, especially free fatty acids, may be perceived chemically in taste bud cells as well as the basic tastant. Recently, it was suggested that long-chain fatty acids accepted into CD36/FAT, a long-chain fatty acid transporter, in circumvallate papillae of the tongue play an extremely important role in the palatability of dietary fat. In this review, we describe the studies on the reception of fatty acids in the oral cavity, and on the signal transmission from the oral cavity to the brain. We hypothesize that long-chain fatty acids are recognized on the tongue, and then neuropeptides and neurotransmitters such as beta-endorphin and dopamine are released in the brain. We suggest that this knowledge is one of the mechanisms of the palatability of dietary fat.
高脂肪食物非常美味可口。包括人类在内的大多数哺乳动物都更喜欢高脂肪食物而非低脂肪食物。当味蕾细胞中的味觉感受器接受了一种基本味觉物质（即甜、酸、咸、苦或鲜味）后，与大脑中的享乐或厌恶反应相关的神经肽和神经递质就会被释放出来。此外，最近的证据表明，膳食脂肪，尤其是游离脂肪酸，可能在味蕾细胞中也能像基本味觉物质一样被化学感知。最近，有人提出，被舌轮廓乳头中的长链脂肪酸转运体CD36/FAT摄取的长链脂肪酸，在膳食脂肪的美味程度方面起着极其重要的作用。在这篇综述中，我们描述了关于口腔中脂肪酸的感受以及从口腔到大脑的信号传递的研究。我们推测长链脂肪酸在舌头上被识别，然后神经肽和神经递质如β-内啡肽和多巴胺在大脑中释放。我们认为这一知识是膳食脂肪美味可口的机制之一。
