Gustatory receptor cell responses to the sweeteners, monellin and thaumatin.

Mouse gustatory responses to sucrose, monellin and thaumatin were examined extracellularly from the chorda tympani nerve and intracellularly from individual taste receptor cells. Although monellin and thaumatin taste intensely sweet to humans and old-world monkeys, they do not appear to elicit chorda tympani nerve responses in rats and other mammals. However, there is considerable species variation in the taste responses of mammals, including differences in taste responses of different strains of mice. In the present study with Slc:ICR mice, we show that chorda tympani and taste receptor cell response profiles, and behavioral results for monellin and thaumatin, are similar to response profiles for sucrose.