Rearing on basal or high dietary NaCl modifies chorda tympani nerve responses in rats

Relationship between ENaC Regulators and SARS-CoV-2 Virus Receptor (ACE2) Expression in Cultured Adult Human Fungiform (HBO) Taste Cells

In addition to the α, β, and γ subunits of ENaC, human salt-sensing taste receptor cells (TRCs) also express the δ-subunit. At present, it is not clear if the expression and function of the ENaC δ-subunit in human salt-sensing TRCs is also modulated by the ENaC regulatory hormones and intracellular signaling effectors known to modulate salt responses in rodent TRCs. Here, we used molecular techniques to demonstrate that the G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER1), the transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1), and components of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) are expressed in δ-ENaC-positive cultured adult human fungiform (HBO) taste cells. Our results suggest that RAAS components function in a complex with ENaC and TRPV1 to modulate salt sensing and thus salt intake in humans. Early, but often prolonged, symptoms of COVID-19 infection are the loss of taste, smell, and chemesthesis. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein contains two subunits, S1 and S2. S1 contains a receptor-binding domain, which is responsible for recognizing and binding to the ACE2 receptor, a component of RAAS. Our results show that the binding of a mutated S1 protein to ACE2 decreases ACE2 expression in HBO cells. We hypothesize that changes in ACE2 receptor expression can alter the balance between the two major RAAS pathways, ACE1/Ang II/AT1R and ACE2/Ang-(1-7)/MASR1, leading to changes in ENaC expression and responses to NaCl in salt-sensing human fungiform taste cells.

Cyclic-AMP regulates postnatal development of neural and behavioral responses to NaCl in rats

During postnatal development rats demonstrate an age-dependent increase in NaCl chorda tympani (CT) responses and the number of functional apical amiloride-sensitive epithelial Na+ channels (ENaCs) in salt sensing fungiform (FF) taste receptor cells (TRCs). Currently, the intracellular signals that regulate the postnatal development of salt taste have not been identified. We investigated the effect of cAMP, a downstream signal for arginine vasopressin (AVP) action, on the postnatal development of NaCl responses in 19-23 day old rats. ENaC-dependent NaCl CT responses were monitored after lingual application of 8-chlorophenylthio-cAMP (8-CPT-cAMP) under open-circuit conditions and under ±60 mV lingual voltage clamp. Behavioral responses were tested using 2 bottle/24h NaCl preference tests. The effect of [deamino-Cys1, D-Arg8]-vasopressin (dDAVP, a specific V2R agonist) was investigated on ENaC subunit trafficking in rat FF TRCs and on cAMP generation in cultured adult human FF taste cells (HBO cells). Our results show that in 19-23 day old rats, the ENaC-dependent maximum NaCl CT response was a saturating sigmoidal function of 8-CPT-cAMP concentration. 8-CPT-cAMP increased the voltage-sensitivity of the NaCl CT response and the apical Na+ response conductance. Intravenous injections of dDAVP increased ENaC expression and γ-ENaC trafficking from cytosolic compartment to the apical compartment in rat FF TRCs. In HBO cells dDAVP increased intracellular cAMP and cAMP increased trafficking of γ- and δ-ENaC from cytosolic compartment to the apical compartment 10 min post-cAMP treatment. Control 19-23 day old rats were indifferent to NaCl, but showed clear preference for appetitive NaCl concentrations after 8-CPT-cAMP treatment. Relative to adult rats, 14 day old rats demonstrated significantly less V2R antibody binding in circumvallate TRCs. We conclude that an age-dependent increase in V2R expression produces an AVP-induced incremental increase in cAMP that modulates the postnatal increase in TRC ENaC and the neural and behavioral responses to NaCl.

Determinants of water and sodium intake and output

Physiological regulation of sodium and water intake and output is required for the maintenance of homeostasis. The behavioral and neuroendocrine mechanisms that govern fluid and salt balance are highly interdependent, with acute and chronic alterations in renal output tightly balanced by appropriate changes in thirst and, to a lesser extent in humans, sodium appetite. In healthy individuals, these tightly coupled mechanisms maintain extracellular fluid volume and body tonicity within a narrow homeostatic range by initiating ingestive behaviors and the release of hormones necessary to conserve water and sodium within the body. In this review, the factors that determine output of sodium and fluid and those that determine "normal" input (i.e., matched to output) are addressed. For output, individual variability accompanied by dysregulation of homeostatic mechanisms may contribute to acute and/or chronic disease. To illustrate that point, the specific condition of salt-sensitive hypertension is discussed. For input, physical characteristics, physiological phenotypes, genetic and developmental influences, and cultural and environmental factors combine to result in a wide range of individual variability that, in humans, is compensated for by alterations in excretion.

Saliva and other taste stimuli are important for gustatory processing of linoleic acid

Paradoxically, bilateral transection of the chorda tympani nerve (CTX) raises the taste discrimination threshold for the free fatty acid, linoleic acid (LA), yet the chorda tympani nerve (CT) is unresponsive to lingual application of LA alone. LA may require a background of saliva to activate taste cells, since CTX decreases saliva production through denervation of the submaxillary and sublingual salivary glands. To assess the role of saliva, we measured LA taste discrimination thresholds for animals whose submaxillary and sublingual salivary glands were removed and also recorded CT responses to LA mixed in artificial saliva. Partial desalivation shifted LA discrimination thresholds from between 5.5 and 11 microM to between 11 and 22 microM. However, this effect was not as pronounced as previously seen with CTX animals. Surprisingly, the CT was unresponsive to LA mixed with artificial saliva, suggesting that artificial saliva may lack components necessary for LA taste. Additionally, fats may primarily enhance other tastes. We previously reported that LA increases CT responses to monosodium glutamate (MSG). Thus we also recorded CT whole nerve responses to taste mixtures of LA and sodium chloride (NaCl), sucrose (SUC), citric acid (CA), or quinine hydrochloride (QHCl) in anesthetized rats. We found that LA increased CT responses to NaCl but did not alter CT responses to SUC, CA, and QHCl. Thus CT recordings either lack the sensitivity to detect small changes to SUC, CA, and QHCl or LA may affect CT responses to MSG and NaCl only, perhaps by specifically modulating gustatory processing of Na(+).

Genetic variation in taste and its influence on food selection

Abstract Taste perception plays a key role in determining individual food preferences and dietary habits. Individual differences in bitter, sweet, umami, sour, or salty taste perception may influence dietary habits, affecting nutritional status and nutrition-related chronic disease risk. In addition to these traditional taste modalities there is growing evidence that "fat taste" may represent a sixth modality. Several taste receptors have been identified within taste cell membranes on the surface of the tongue, and they include the T2R family of bitter taste receptors, the T1R receptors associated with sweet and umami taste perception, the ion channels PKD1L3 and PKD2L1 linked to sour taste, and the integral membrane protein CD36, which is a putative "fat taste" receptor. Additionally, epithelial sodium channels and a vanilloid receptor, TRPV1, may account for salty taste perception. Common polymorphisms in genes involved in taste perception may account for some of the interindividual differences in food preferences and dietary habits within and between populations. This variability could affect food choices and dietary habits, which may influence nutritional and health status and the risk of chronic disease. This review will summarize the present state of knowledge of the genetic variation in taste, and how such variation might influence food intake behaviors.

Behavioral and electrophysiological taste responses change after brief or prolonged dietary sodium deprivation

Dietary Na+ deprivation elicits a hormonal response to promote sodium conservation and a behavioral response to increase sodium ingestion. It has generally been accepted that the former occurs within 24 h after sodium deprivation, while the latter is delayed and may not appear until as much as 10 days later. Na+ deprivation of similar duration also decreases the sensitivity of the chorda tympani nerve (CT) to NaCl, suggesting that changes in CT responses are necessary for increased NaCl intake. However, previous work from our laboratory showed that licking responses to NaCl solutions increase after only 2 days of Na+ deprivation, suggesting rapidly occurring changes in response to NaCl taste. The present experiments examined the effects of 2 days of dietary Na+ deprivation on CT responses to NaCl and patterns of NaCl consumption and found that Na+-deficient rats licked significantly more during the first NaCl intake bout compared with control rats. CT responses to NaCl were reduced at all concentrations after brief Na+ deprivation compared with Na+-replete control rats and did not decrease further with prolonged (10 days) dietary Na+ deficiency. Moreover, amiloride, which suppressed CT responses to NaCl by approximately 30% in control rats, had virtually no effect on CT responses in Na+-deprived rats. Thus, 2 days of Na+ deprivation is sufficient to alter patterns of ingestion of concentrated NaCl and to reduce gustatory responses to NaCl. Furthermore, changes in gustatory responses to NaCl during dietary Na+ deprivation may involve the amiloride-sensitive component of the CT.

Cracking taste codes by tapping into sensory neuron impulse traffic

Insights into the biological basis for mammalian taste quality coding began with electrophysiological recordings from "taste" nerves and this technique continues to produce essential information today. Chorda tympani (geniculate ganglion) neurons, which are particularly involved in taste quality discrimination, are specialists or generalists. Specialists respond to stimuli characterized by a single taste quality as defined by behavioral cross-generalization in conditioned taste tests. Generalists respond to electrolytes that elicit multiple aversive qualities. Na(+)-salt (N) specialists in rodents and sweet-stimulus (S) specialists in multiple orders of mammals are well characterized. Specialists are associated with species' nutritional needs and their activation is known to be malleable by internal physiological conditions and contaminated external caloric sources. S specialists, associated with the heterodimeric G-protein coupled receptor T1R, and N specialists, associated with the epithelial sodium channel ENaC, are consistent with labeled line coding from taste bud to afferent neuron. Yet, S-specialist neurons and behavior are less specific than T1R2-3 in encompassing glutamate and E generalist neurons are much less specific than a candidate, PDK TRP channel, sour receptor in encompassing salts and bitter stimuli. Specialist labeled lines for nutrients and generalist patterns for aversive electrolytes may be transmitting taste information to the brain side by side. However, specific roles of generalists in taste quality coding may be resolved by selecting stimuli and stimulus levels found in natural situations. T2Rs, participating in reflexes via the glossopharynygeal nerve, became highly diversified in mammalian phylogenesis as they evolved to deal with dangerous substances within specific environmental niches. Establishing the information afferent neurons traffic to the brain about natural taste stimuli imbedded in dynamic complex mixtures will ultimately "crack taste codes."

Twin study of the heritability of recognition thresholds for sour and salty taste

Seventy-four pairs of monozygotic (identical) twins and 35 pairs of dizygotic (fraternal) twins provided recognition thresholds (modified Harris-Kalmus test) for the sourness of citric acid and the saltiness of sodium chloride during the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, OH. Variance components (ACE) models were applied to the data: total variation = additive genetic (A) + common environment (C) + nonshared environment (E). The best-fit model of variation in recognition thresholds for sourness included an additive genetic factor, accounting for 53% of the variance, but no common environment component. This level of heritability, on par with that of sensitivity to the bitter compounds 6-n-propylthiouracil and phenylthiocarbamide, strongly suggests that genetic factors play a larger role than shared environment in determining individual differences in recognition thresholds for sourness. In contrast, the best-fit model for saltiness recognition included a common environment component, accounting for 22% of the variance in thresholds, but no additive component. This result suggests that environment plays a larger role than genetics in determining individual differences in recognition thresholds for saltiness.

Sex differences in electrophysiological and behavioral responses to NaCl taste

We tested the hypothesis that sex differences in preference for NaCl are attributable to estrogen-mediated alterations in gustatory processing. Electrophysiological responses of the chorda tympani nerve to NaCl were blunted by estrogen treatment in ovariectomized female rats, suggesting that females are less sensitive to concentrated NaCl solutions during high estrogen conditions. In contrast, after a taste aversion was conditioned to 150-mM NaCl, estrogen- and oil-treated ovariectomized rats generalized the aversion to a lower concentration of NaCl than did males, suggesting that females are more sensitive to the taste of dilute NaCl solutions regardless of estrogen. Thus, sex differences in NaCl preferences may be attributable to differences in NaCl taste processing that involve both acute and developmental effects of estrogen.

Stimulus-induced increase of taste responses in the hamster chorda tympani by repeated exposure to 'novel' tastants

Variations in amplitude of responses of the chorda tympani to repeated application of various novel tastants were measured in familiarized and control groups of adult hamsters. Three groups of 10 hamsters were pre-exposed to 5 mM dulcin, 50 mM potassium L-glutamate (KGlu) or 1 mM 5'guanosine monophosphate (5'GMP). In the fourth group, the tongue was rinsed with 5'GMP for 20 min just prior to recording from the chorda tympani. The tastants were novel to the fifth group (naïve control). A series of 17 stimuli was repeated six times and responses were quantified relative to the initial response of each of the 50 hamsters. The responses of the chorda tympani increased with repetition in the control group. In contrast, no increase in amplitude of response to the pre-exposed tastants or to stimuli with qualitatively related tastes was observed in the group familiarized with either KGlu or 5'GMP. These results indicate that the response of the chorda tympani depends on previous exposure to a tastant. The sensitivity of taste cells appears to be modulated, possibly by stimulus-induced supplementary receptors.

Gestational and early postnatal dietary NaCl levels affect NaCl intake, but not stimulated water intake, by adult rats

We examined body fluid regulation by weanling (21–25 days) and adult (>60 days) male rats that were offspring of dams fed chow containing either 0.1, 1, or 3% NaCl throughout gestation and lactation. Weanling rats were maintained on the test diets until postnatal day 30 and on standard 1% NaCl chow thereafter. Ad libitum water intake by weanlings was highest in those fed 3% NaCl and lowest in those fed 0.1% NaCl. Adult rats maintained on standard NaCl chow consumed similar amounts of water after overnight water deprivation or intravenous hypertonic NaCl (HS) infusion regardless of early NaCl condition. Moreover, baseline and HS-stimulated plasma Na+ concentrations also were similar for the three groups. Nonetheless, adult rats in the early 3% NaCl group consumed more of 0.5 M NaCl after 10 days of dietary Na+ deprivation than did rats in either the 1% or 0.1% NaCl group. Interestingly, whether NaCl was consumed in a concentrated solution in short-term, two-bottle tests after dietary Na+ deprivation or in chow during ad libitum feeding, adult rats in the 3% NaCl group drank less water for each unit of NaCl consumed, whereas rats in the 0.1% NaCl group drank more water for each unit of NaCl consumed. Thus gestational and early postnatal dietary NaCl levels do not affect stimulated water intake or long-term body fluid regulation. Together with our previous studies, these results suggest that persistent changes in NaCl intake and in water intake associated with NaCl ingestion reflect short-term behavioral effects that may be attributable to differences in NaCl taste processing.