[Update on the presence of taste buds on the laryngeal surface of the epiglottis].

Previous investigations have ascertained, according to the results obtained by Bradley et al. (1980) in the sheep, that the laryngeal surface of the epiglottis of goat and bovine is always provided with numerous taste buds. These observations have verified in other ruminant species, as the moufflon and the buffalo, the validity of the above-named datum and have ascertained that it is always inconstant in the other animal species considered (wild boar, coypu). These taste buds show a typical structure (diameter of the outer taste pore varying from 2.7 to 4.2 micron, width of the chemoreceptors varying from 30 to 60 micron and length from 27.5 to 57.5 micron). Moreover, the normal structure of the above-named taste buds is also testified by the arrangement of their innervation and particularly by the integrity of the synaptic contacts. The results of the present research have permitted a critical and more severe examination of the probable functional role of those laryngeal receptors. In fact, in the ruminants they may protect the deep airways precluding to food particles the larynx in the phase of food regurgitation.