Giza B K, Scott T R, Sclafani A, Antonucci R F
Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark 19716.
Brain Res. 1991 Jul 26;555(1):1-9. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(91)90852-m.
Rats show a pronounced preference for the tastes of starch-derived polysaccharides. Three of these compounds--Polycose, maltotriose and amylopectin--were used along with a standard array of chemicals in a study of their effectiveness as taste stimuli, as monitored by evoked single unit activity in the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS). Maltotriose and amylopectin elicited very few spikes and no clear quality-related pattern of neural activity. Polycose, however, was an effective taste stimulus. It evoked an activity profile across neurons and over time that was poorly correlated with that of the prototypical sugar (sucrose) and only moderately related to those of the non-sugar prototypes (NaCl, HCl and quinine-HCl). The 14 cells (23%) that responded particularly well to Polycose were all members of neuronal subgroups that emphasized salt, acid and quinine sensitivity. Thus, despite the strong behavioral preference shown to Polycose, its neural profile is unlike those of other preferred stimuli. Polycose may represent a unique taste stimulus whose quality cannot be readily associated with those of the traditional 4 basic tastes.
大鼠对淀粉衍生的多糖口味表现出明显的偏好。在一项关于它们作为味觉刺激物有效性的研究中，使用了其中三种化合物——聚葡萄糖、麦芽三糖和支链淀粉——以及一系列标准化学物质，并通过孤束核（NTS）中诱发的单单位活动进行监测。麦芽三糖和支链淀粉引发的神经冲动极少，且没有明显的与质量相关的神经活动模式。然而，聚葡萄糖是一种有效的味觉刺激物。它在神经元上随时间诱发的活动模式与典型糖类（蔗糖）的模式相关性很差，与非糖类原型（氯化钠、盐酸和盐酸奎宁）的模式也只是中等程度相关。对聚葡萄糖反应特别良好的14个细胞（占23%）均属于强调对盐、酸和奎宁敏感性的神经元亚组。因此，尽管大鼠对聚葡萄糖表现出强烈的行为偏好，但其神经模式与其他偏好刺激物的模式不同。聚葡萄糖可能代表一种独特的味觉刺激物，其性质无法轻易与传统的四种基本味觉相关联。
