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The cytoarchitecture of gustatory receptors from the rabbit foliate papillae

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Summary

The apical region of the taste bud, delimited by the stratum disjunctum of the papillary epithelium, is divided into a distal taste pore, a channel, and a proximal chamber. In addition to “fuzzy coated” microvilli, the chamber contains an amorphous dense material histochemically defined as a neutral mucopolysaccharide.

Abounding in the apical cytoplasm of the taste cell is a randomly oriented filamentous component 60–70 Å in diameter extending into each microvillus. Likewise in this area membrane-bounded electron-dense bodies are found whose content is considered to be synthesized by the rough endoplasmic reticulum and subsequently concentrated and packaged by the Golgi complex. These bodies are thought to contain the neutral mucopolysaccharide, which finally reaches the chamber. Other components of the taste cell cytoplasm include vesicles, mitochondria, ribosomes, and nucleus. Two centrioles, each possessing a pair of rootlets, have been observed in the apical cytoplasm. Adjacent taste cells are attached apically by a zonula occludens followed by a zonula adhaerens. The synaptic clefts between taste cells and nerve fibers are acetylcholinesterase positive but are negative for butylcholinesterase and adenosine triophosphatase. A lineage of taste cells is postulated.

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  1. Biophysics Branch, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 20305, Washington, D.C., USA

    Howard A. Scalzi

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  1. Howard A. Scalzi
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This work was supported in part by In House Independent Research Grant No. 6.11.30.01, 3A013001A91C; by National Defense Education Act Group IV Fellowship, awarded to the author; and in part by Grant No. GM-0877, awarded to Dr. Everett Anderson, University of Massachusetts, by the National Institutes of Health. I am grateful to Drs. Everett AnderSon, James N. Dumont, Gunter F. Bahr, and Joe L. GRiffin for their expert guidance and support in the preparation of this paper.

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Scalzi, H.A. The cytoarchitecture of gustatory receptors from the rabbit foliate papillae. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 80, 413–435 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00339331

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