The neuronal mechanisms underlying the taste-evoked emotional responses

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24659826
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Functional basic dentistry
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: SUGITA Makoto 広島大学, 医歯薬保健学研究院(歯), 教授 (50235884)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 味覚 / 情動 / ニューロン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To gain insight into how bitter and sweet taste information is translated in the brain into binary responses of emotion, we visualized the neuronal circuitries of bitter and sweet tastes by selectively expressing the fluorescent transneuronal tracer, WGA-DsRed, in either bitter- or sweet-responsive taste receptor cells in mice. The genetic tracing showed segregation of bitter and sweet taste pathways. To functionally characterize the bitter taste-relaying neurons, which were labeled by WGA-DsRed originating from bitter taste receptor cells, we combined genetic tracing with electrophysiological and immunohistochemical analyses, and mapping the induction of the immediate early gene by taste stimuli and aversion-eliciting stimuli from the gut. Our data suggest that the different types of bitter taste-relaying neurons are clustered in distinct locations in the parabrachial nucleus, showing the architectural solution in the parabrachial nucleus that processes taste information.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学