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Review ArticleReview Article

A Pharmacological Perspective on the Study of Taste

R. Kyle Palmer
Michael A. Nader, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Pharmacological Reviews January 2019, 71 (1) 20-48; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/pr.118.015974
R. Kyle Palmer
Opertech Bio, Inc., Pennovation Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Michael A. Nader
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Abstract

The study of taste has been guided throughout much of its history by the conceptual framework of psychophysics, where the focus was on quantification of the subjective experience of the taste sensations. By the mid-20th century, data from physiologic studies had accumulated sufficiently to assemble a model for the function of receptors that must mediate the initial stimulus of tastant molecules in contact with the tongue. But the study of taste as a receptor-mediated event did not gain momentum until decades later when the actual receptor proteins and attendant signaling mechanisms were identified and localized to the highly specialized taste-responsive cells of the tongue. With those discoveries a new opportunity to examine taste as a function of receptor activity has come into focus. Pharmacology is the science designed specifically for the experimental interrogation and quantitative characterization of receptor function at all levels of inquiry from molecules to behavior. This review covers the history of some of the major concepts that have shaped thinking and experimental approaches to taste, the seminal discoveries that have led to elucidation of receptors for taste, and how applying principles of receptor pharmacology can enhance understanding of the mechanisms of taste physiology and perception.

Footnotes

  • Opertech Bio, Inc. was the source of all funding relevant to the writing of this manuscript.

  • https://doi.org/10.1124/pr.118.015974.

  • Copyright © 2018 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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Pharmacological Reviews: 71 (1)
Pharmacological Reviews
Vol. 71, Issue 1
1 Jan 2019
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Review ArticleReview Article

The Study of Taste as an Extension of Pharmacology

R. Kyle Palmer
Pharmacological Reviews January 1, 2019, 71 (1) 20-48; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/pr.118.015974

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Review ArticleReview Article

The Study of Taste as an Extension of Pharmacology

R. Kyle Palmer
Pharmacological Reviews January 1, 2019, 71 (1) 20-48; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/pr.118.015974
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • I. Introduction
    • II. Taste Quality
    • III. A Very Brief History of the Receptor Concept in Pharmacology
    • IV. Development of the “Taste Receptor” Concept
    • V. Basic Principles of Receptor Function as They Relate to the Study of Taste
    • VI. A G Protein for Taste
    • VII. Discovery of Phospholipase C β2
    • VIII. Receptors that Mediate Taste Signaling
    • IX. Native and Recombinant Taste Cells
    • X. Concentration-Response Relationships from In Vivo Taste Studies
    • XI. Founding Concepts of Psychophysics in the Study of Taste
    • XII. Concluding Comments
    • Acknowledgments
    • Authorship Contributions
    • Footnotes
    • Abbreviations
    • References
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