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Ascl1-expressing cell differentiation in initially developed taste buds and taste organoids

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Abstract

Mammalian taste bud cells are composed of several distinct cell types and differentiated from surrounding tongue epithelial cells. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying their differentiation have yet to be elucidated. In the present study, we examined an Ascl1-expressing cell lineage using circumvallate papillae (CVP) of newborn mice and taste organoids (three-dimensional self-organized tissue cultures), which allow studying the differentiation of taste bud cells in fine detail ex vivo. Using lineage-tracing analysis, we observed that Ascl1 lineage cells expressed type II and III taste cell markers both CVP of newborn mice and taste organoids. However, the coexpression rate in type II cells was lower than that in type III cells. Furthermore, we found that the generation of the cells which express type II and III cell markers was suppressed in taste organoids lacking Ascl1-expressing cells. These findings suggest that Ascl1-expressing precursor cells can differentiate into both type III and a subset of type II taste cells.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. Jeffrey Whitsett (University of Cincinnati) for the R-spondin2 stable cell line, Dr. Hans Clevers (Hubrecht Institute) and Dr. Toshiro Sato (Keio University) for the Wnt3a stable cell line, and Dr. Peihua Jiang (Monell Chemical Senses Center) for the Noggin stable cell line. We thank Ms. M. Ishikawa for secretarial assistance.

Funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI grant JP20K18461.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Anatomy, Department of Health Promotion, Kyushu Dental University, 2-6-1 Manazuru, Kokurakita-ku, Kitakyushu, 803-8580, Japan

    Kae Matsuyama, Shinji Kataoka, Takashi Toyono & Yuji Seta

  2. Section of Oral Neuroscience, Graduate School of Dental Science, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan

    Shingo Takai & Noriatsu Shigemura

  3. Research and Development Center for Five-Sense Devices, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Noriatsu Shigemura

  4. Department of Human, Information and Life Sciences, School of Health Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, 807-8555, Japan

    Mitsushiro Nakatomi

  5. Division of Orofacial Functions and Orthodontics, Department of Health Promotion, Kyushu Dental University, 2-6-1 Manazuru, Kokurakita-ku, Kitakyushu, 803-8580, Japan

    Tatsuo Kawamoto

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  1. Kae Matsuyama
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  2. Shingo Takai
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Contributions

Y.S., conceptualization and study design; K.M., S.T., N.S., T.T., and Y.S., methodology; K.M., S.K., and T.T., investigation; K.M., T.T., and Y.S., project administration; K.M., M.N., and S.K., visualization; K.M., writing—original draft; Y.S., T.K., and M.N., writing—review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kae Matsuyama.

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All animal experiments were approved by Kyushu Dental University Animal Care (approval No: 20–03).

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Matsuyama, K., Takai, S., Shigemura, N. et al. Ascl1-expressing cell differentiation in initially developed taste buds and taste organoids. Cell Tissue Res 392, 631–641 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-023-03756-8

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