Roper S D
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Fort Collins 80523.
Annu Rev Neurosci. 1989;12:329-53. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ne.12.030189.001553.
New technologies in neurophysiology and ultrastructural research are bringing about rapid advances in our understanding of taste, particularly at the cellular level. The model of chemosensory processing in the taste bud presented here can now be explored in great detail. The synaptic organization of the taste bud indicates a potential for intriguing peripheral integrative mechanisms, including cross-talk between taste cells, summation of chemoreceptor responses by interneurons (basal cells) in the taste bud, and centrifugal control of taste buds via efferent input from the CNS. Figure 2 summarizes these findings. The existence of voltage-gated ionic channels on taste cells and their unequal distribution in apical and basolateral membrane suggests mechanisms for chemosensory transduction: A primary event in the transduction process for many taste stimuli is likely to be the closure of apical potassium channels, thus leading to a depolarizing receptor potential. The closure of these apical potassium channels is probably mediated via cyclic nucleotides or intracellular Ca2+.
神经生理学和超微结构研究中的新技术正在使我们对味觉的理解取得迅速进展，尤其是在细胞水平上。此处呈现的味蕾化学感应处理模型现在可以进行详细探究。味蕾的突触组织表明存在有趣的外周整合机制的可能性，包括味觉细胞之间的相互作用、味蕾中间神经元（基底细胞）对化学感受器反应的总和，以及通过中枢神经系统的传出输入对味蕾的离心控制。图2总结了这些发现。味觉细胞上电压门控离子通道的存在及其在顶端和基底外侧膜中的不均匀分布提示了化学感应转导的机制：许多味觉刺激转导过程中的一个主要事件可能是顶端钾通道的关闭，从而导致去极化受体电位。这些顶端钾通道的关闭可能是通过环核苷酸或细胞内Ca2+介导的。
