| Budget Amount *help |
¥6,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥6,200,000)
Fiscal Year 1995: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 1994: ¥5,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,400,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Drug-induced taste disorder, which is the most common cause of taste disorders in elderly people, was mainly studied in this project. The cause of drug-induced taste disorder is thought to be the abnormality of zinc metabolism induced by the zinc chelation effect of the drugs. In this study, an animal model of drug-induced taste disorder was successfully produced by using tetracycline, which is well-known as an antibiotic having zinc chelation activity. This type of in-vivo study has never been reported yet. This animal model was used for the histological study to examine the changes of fungiform papillae, especially on the changes of the taste pore by scanning electron microscopy. These findings were compared with those of the fungiform papillae of zinc-deficient rats, which is widely known as an animal model for taste disorder. The changes observed in taste pore of the fungiform papillae of the rats having drug-induced taste disorder were mostly same with those of zinc-deficient rats, but milder. Those changes are now studied by transmission electron microscopy.
Taste disorder caused by local disease in oral cavity, such as glossitis, is also significantly increasing in elderly people. In order to examine the changes on the tongue caused by inflammatory changes in the oral cavity, the changes introduced on the surface of the tongue by inflammation which is produced in the deep part of the tongue. Inflammation in the deep part of the tongue significantly led the changes in the superficial layr of the tongue, which are the increase of the length and the decrease of the number of the filliform papillae. These changes were noticeable in the front part of the tongue. The taste function and the changes of the taste pore of these rats are now studied.
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