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Science 1 November 1991:
Vol. 254. no. 5032, pp. 724 - 726
DOI: 10.1126/science.1948054
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Articles

Science, Vol 254, Issue 5032, 724-726
Copyright © 1991 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

The anion paradox in sodium taste reception: resolution by voltage-clamp studies

Q Ye, GL Heck, and JA DeSimone

Department of Physiology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23298-0551.

Sodium salts are potent taste stimuli, but their effectiveness is markedly dependent on the anion, with chloride yielding the greatest response. The cellular mechanisms that mediate this phenomenon are not known. This "anion paradox" has been resolved by considering the field potential that is generated by restricted electrodiffusion of the anion through paracellular shunts between taste-bud cells. Neural responses to sodium chloride, sodium acetate, and sodium gluconate were studied while the field potential was voltage-clamped. Clamping at electronegative values eliminated the anion effect, whereas clamping at electropositive potentials exaggerated it. Thus, field potentials across the lingual epithelium modulate taste reception, indicating that the functional unit of taste reception includes the taste cell and its paracellular microenvironment.


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