Lemon Christian H
Department of Biology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2017 Oct 1;313(4):R305-R321. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00089.2017. Epub 2017 Aug 9.
Taste stimuli have a temperature that can stimulate thermosensitive neural machinery in the mouth during gustatory experience. Although taste and oral temperature are sometimes discussed as different oral sensory modalities, there is a body of literature that demonstrates temperature is an important component and modulator of the intensity of gustatory neural and perceptual responses. Available data indicate that the influence of temperature on taste, herein referred to as "thermogustation," can vary across taste qualities, can also vary among stimuli presumed to share a common taste quality, and is conditioned on taste stimulus concentration, with neuronal and psychophysical data revealing larger modulatory effects of temperature on gustatory responding to weakened taste solutions compared with concentrated. What is more, thermogustation is evidenced to involve interplay between mouth and stimulus temperature. Given these and other dependencies, identifying principles by which thermal input affects gustatory information flow in the nervous system may be important for ultimately unravelling the organization of neural circuits for taste and defining their involvement with multisensory processing related to flavor. Yet thermal effects are relatively understudied in gustatory neuroscience. Major gaps in our understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of thermogustation include delineating supporting receptors, the potential involvement of oral thermal and somatosensory trigeminal neurons in thermogustatory interactions, and the broader operational roles of temperature in gustatory processing. This review will discuss these and other issues in the context of the literature relevant to understanding thermogustation.
味觉刺激具有一定温度，在味觉体验过程中，该温度能够刺激口腔中的热敏神经机制。尽管味觉和口腔温度有时被视为不同的口腔感觉模态，但有大量文献表明，温度是味觉神经和感知反应强度的重要组成部分及调节因素。现有数据表明，温度对味觉的影响，即本文所指的“温度味觉”，会因味觉品质的不同而有所差异，在假定具有相同味觉品质的刺激物之间也会有所不同，并且取决于味觉刺激的浓度，神经元和心理物理学数据显示，相较于浓缩味觉溶液，温度对稀释味觉溶液的味觉反应具有更大的调节作用。此外，有证据表明温度味觉涉及口腔温度与刺激温度之间的相互作用。鉴于这些及其他相关因素，确定热输入影响神经系统中味觉信息流的原理，对于最终阐明味觉神经回路的组织方式以及确定它们在与风味相关的多感官加工中的作用可能至关重要。然而，在味觉神经科学中，热效应的研究相对较少。我们对温度味觉的机制和影响的理解存在重大差距，包括确定支持性受体、口腔热觉和躯体感觉三叉神经元在温度味觉相互作用中的潜在作用，以及温度在味觉加工中的更广泛操作作用。本综述将在与理解温度味觉相关的文献背景下讨论这些及其他问题。
