Hellekant G, Ninomiya Y
University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Physiol Behav. 1994 Dec;56(6):1185-8. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(94)90364-6.
We have found earlier that chimpanzee chorda tympani taste fibers fall into groups that conform with the human taste qualities. This study focuses on bitter taste and its relation to sweet taste. Eight fibers were classified as bitter fibers according to their responses to 31 stimuli. The stimuli included the bitter compounds quinine, denatonium benzoate and caffeine. The results indicate a clear dichotomy between the bitter and sweet fibers. Sweet fibers never responded to the bitter compounds. However, in addition to their responses to the above compounds, some of the bitter fibers were stimulated by other compounds. Most prominent were responses to NaCl-amiloride mixture, KCl and xylitol. In most cases the cause could be assumed to be a bitter taste in the compound. These results suggest that the bitter and sweet tastes are conveyed in specific and separate groups of nerve fibers in the chimpanzee. Because of the closeness between chimpanzee and human, this finding has implications on the question of taste coding in human and the concept of taste qualities.
我们之前发现，黑猩猩的鼓索味觉纤维可分为几类，与人类的味觉特性相符。本研究聚焦于苦味及其与甜味的关系。根据对31种刺激物的反应，8根纤维被归类为苦味纤维。刺激物包括苦味化合物奎宁、苯甲地那铵和咖啡因。结果表明，苦味纤维和甜味纤维之间存在明显的二分法。甜味纤维对苦味化合物从未有过反应。然而，除了对上述化合物的反应外，一些苦味纤维还受到其他化合物的刺激。最显著的是对氯化钠 - 氨氯地平混合物、氯化钾和木糖醇的反应。在大多数情况下，可认为原因是化合物中存在苦味。这些结果表明，苦味和甜味在黑猩猩中是通过特定且分开的神经纤维组来传递的。由于黑猩猩与人类亲缘关系密切，这一发现对人类味觉编码问题和味觉特性概念具有启示意义。
