2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Development of mouse lingual epithelium in situ Ca imaging method for evaluation of seafood tastes

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15580178
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Fisheries chemistry
Research Institution	Tokyo University of Marine Science & Technology (2004) 東京水産大学 (2003)
Principal Investigator	USHIO Hideki Tokyo University of Marine Science & Technology, Associate professor, 海洋科学部, 助教授 (50251682)
Project Period (FY)	2003 – 2004
Keywords	mouse / calcium / signal transduction / taste reception
Research Abstract	We developed the new method for monitoring Ca^<2+> responses in the mouse taste receptor cells in situ. The lingual epithelium sheet was enzymatically removed from a mouse tongue and loaded with a fluorescent Ca^<2+> probe, Calcium Green 1. Fluorescent image sequences under microscopic observation were acquired via an image-intensified CCD camera and analyzed in a personal computer. Dose-dependent Ca^<2+> responses were obtained reproductively for three taste modalities, sweet, bitter and umami. The present Ca^<2+> imaging technique enabled us to monitor long-time (over 90 min), real-time and multi-cellular responses. This method was useful for evaluation of complicated tastes such as seafood. Some informations about intracellular signal transduction mechanisms in taste reception of umami were obtained by this method.