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Science 5 April 1991:
Vol. 252. no. 5002, pp. 126 - 128
DOI: 10.1126/science.2011748
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Articles

Science, Vol 252, Issue 5002, 126-128
Copyright © 1991 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Mediation of responses to calcium in taste cells by modulation of a potassium conductance

AR Bigiani and SD Roper

Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins 80523.

Calcium salts are strong taste stimuli in vertebrate animals. However, the chemosensory transduction mechanisms for calcium are not known. In taste buds of Necturus maculosus (mud puppy), calcium evokes depolarizing receptor potentials by acting extracellularly on the apical ends of taste cells to block a resting potassium conductance. Therefore, divalent cations elicit receptor potentials in taste cells by modulating a potassium conductance rather than by permeating the cell membrane, the mechanism utilized by monovalent cations such as sodium and potassium ions.


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