Abstract
Previously, we reported that agonists for the calcium-sensing receptor CaSR enhance the intensity of salty, sweet, and umami tastes. Interestingly, CaSR agonists enhance specific basic tastes but do not elicit any taste themselves. In the present study, we characterized how CaSR agonists specifically affect sweet taste. We found that the CaSR agonist, γ-glutamyl-valinyl-glycine, enhanced ATP secretion from isolated mouse circumvallate taste buds triggered by an artificial sweetener, SC45647. This enhancement was abolished by atropine, implicating the involvement of muscarinic cholinergic mechanisms in the perception of kokumi substances. Moreover, nearly all CaSR-immunopositive taste cells co-expressed cholinergic markers, suggesting that CaSR-positive taste cells contain acetylcholine. These observations indicate that CaSR agonists enhance sweet-induced ATP release from sweet receptor cells via cholinergic cell-to-cell (paracrine) signaling within a taste bud.
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Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Eriko Miura for performing excellent immunohistochemistry, technical assistance, and critical reading of the manuscript. I thank Toshihiko Hatanaka for synthesis of the kokumi substances, Yusuke Amino for synthesis of the sweetener, SC45647, and Hisayuki Uneyama for valuable discussions. I also thank Ken Iwatsuki of Tokyo University of Agriculture for valuable discussions. I thank Yi-jen A. Huang, Robin Dando, Nirupa Chaudhari, and Stephen D Roper of the University of Miami for valuable discussions and assistance.
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Maruyama, Y. (2024). Molecular Mechanism of Enhancement in Basic Tastes by Kokumi Substances: A Potent Calcium-Sensing Receptor (CaSR) Agonist, γ-Glutamyl-Valinyl-Glycine, Amplifies Sweet-Induced ATP Secretion Via Cell-to-Cell Communication in a Mouse Taste Bud. In: Kuroda, M. (eds) Kokumi Substance as an Enhancer of Koku. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8303-2_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8303-2_9
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