Makureseptorisolut

Makureseptorisolut, or taste receptor cells, are specialized sensory cells within taste buds that detect chemical tastants and relay information to gustatory nerve fibers. They are primarily located in the taste buds of the tongue, including the fungiform, foliate, and circumvallate papillae, but are also found in the soft palate, pharynx, and epiglottis.

Taste buds contain several cell types. Type I cells are glia-like supporting cells, Type II cells are responsible for detecting sweet, bitter, and umami tastes, and Type III cells participate in sour detection and form conventional synapses with gustatory afferents. Taste receptor cells are continually renewed from basal progenitor cells with turnover on the order of about 10 to 14 days, a process maintained by interactions with gustatory nerves and surrounding supporting tissue.

Transduction and signaling vary by taste modality. Sweet, umami, and bitter tastes are detected by G protein-coupled receptors on Type II cells (T1R2+T1R3 for sweet, T1R1+T1R3 for umami, and various T2Rs for bitter). Activation triggers a PLCβ2 signaling cascade, calcium release, and the release of ATP as a primary transmitter to gustatory nerve fibers (Type II cells lack conventional synapses). Salt tastes are detected primarily through ion channels, including amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channels in some taste cells. Sour tastes are associated with Type III cells that express proton-sensitive channels such as PKD2L1 and form conventional synapses, releasing neurotransmitters like serotonin.

Neural pathways for taste information involve the facial nerve (chorda tympani) for the anterior tongue, the glossopharyngeal nerve for the posterior tongue, and the vagus nerve for taste in the epiglottis and palate, transmitting signals to the brainstem and onward to the gustatory cortex.