St John Steven J, Boughter John D
Department of Psychology, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL 32789, USA.
Chem Senses. 2009 Jul;34(6):487-98. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjp023. Epub 2009 May 7.
Historically, taste researchers have considered the possibility that the gustatory system detects basic compounds, such as those containing the hydroxide ion, but evidence for an "alkaline taste" has not been strong. We found that, in 48 h, 2-bottle preference tests, C3HeB/FeJ (C3) mice showed a preference for Ca(OH)(2), whereas SWR/J (SW) mice showed avoidance. Strain differences were also apparent to NaOH but not CaCl(2). Follow-up studies showed that the strain difference for Ca(OH)(2) was stable over time (Experiment 2) but that C3 and SW mice did not differ in their responses to Ca(OH)(2) or NaOH in brief-access tests, where both mice avoided high concentrations of these compounds (Experiment 3). In order to assess the perceived quality of Ca(OH)(2), mice were tested in 2 taste aversion generalization experiments (Experiments 4 and 5). Aversions to Ca(OH)(2) generalized to NaOH but not CaCl(2) in both strains, suggesting that the generalization was based on the hydroxide ion. Both strains also generalized aversions to quinine, suggesting the possibility that the hydroxide ion has a bitter taste quality to these mice, despite the preference shown by C3 mice to middle concentrations in long-term tests.
从历史上看，味觉研究人员曾考虑过味觉系统检测碱性化合物（如含有氢氧根离子的化合物）的可能性，但“碱性味觉”的证据并不充分。我们发现，在48小时的双瓶偏好测试中，C3HeB/FeJ（C3）小鼠表现出对Ca(OH)₂的偏好，而SWR/J（SW）小鼠则表现出回避。品系差异在NaOH测试中也很明显，但在CaCl₂测试中不明显。后续研究表明，Ca(OH)₂的品系差异随时间稳定（实验2），但在短暂接触测试中，C3和SW小鼠对Ca(OH)₂或NaOH的反应没有差异，两种小鼠都回避高浓度的这些化合物（实验3）。为了评估Ca(OH)₂的感知性质，在两个味觉厌恶泛化实验（实验4和5）中对小鼠进行了测试。在两个品系中，对Ca(OH)₂的厌恶都泛化到了NaOH，但没有泛化到CaCl₂，这表明泛化是基于氢氧根离子。两个品系对奎宁的厌恶也都有泛化，这表明尽管C3小鼠在长期测试中对中等浓度表现出偏好，但氢氧根离子对这些小鼠可能具有苦味性质。
