Christensen C M, Brand J G, Malamud D
Physiol Behav. 1987;40(2):221-7. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(87)90211-3.
The role of saliva in sour taste perception was investigated in a series of 4 experiments. In one pair of experiments, solution pH was measured before and after acetic, citric or hydrochloric acid solutions were mixed with saliva either normally in the oral cavity or after saliva was directly added to solutions. The results showed that large increases in solution pH occurred over a wide range of acid concentrations and that the changes in pH were related to individual salivary flow rates; greater increases in solution pH occurred among those individuals with higher flow rates. The other pair of experiments measured taste threshold and suprathreshold responses to different volumes of acids. The results demonstrated that individuals with high salivary flow rates were less sensitive to the taste of acids and that large volumes of acid were more easily perceived. The pattern of findings suggest that saliva-induced changes in solution pH are important in sour taste perception.
在一系列4个实验中研究了唾液在酸味感知中的作用。在一组实验中，测量了醋酸、柠檬酸或盐酸溶液在口腔中正常与唾液混合后或唾液直接添加到溶液中前后的溶液pH值。结果表明，在广泛的酸浓度范围内，溶液pH值大幅升高，且pH值的变化与个体唾液流速有关；流速较高的个体中溶液pH值升高幅度更大。另一组实验测量了对不同体积酸的味觉阈值和阈上反应。结果表明，唾液流速高的个体对酸味不太敏感，大量的酸更容易被感知。研究结果模式表明，唾液引起的溶液pH值变化在酸味感知中很重要。
