Taste

It is one of the senses through which a person receives information from the environment. It is the totality of sensations that arise when a stimulus acts in the mouth. There are four main tastes: bitterness, sourness, saltiness, sweetness. The variety of other tastes is made up of combinations of basic tastes and their combinations with aromas, as aroma receptors participate in recognizing taste.

Taste sensation is a sensation when taste is perceived due to taste receptors located on the tongue, which react only to substances dissolved in water (in saliva). Human and mammalian receptors are in the mouth. They consist of taste buds scattered on the tongue, most of which are in the taste buds, a little in the hard palate, throat, and epiglottis. A taste bud consists of several elongated taste sensory and support cells, as well as hair-like filaments. The receptor is a glycoprotein protein that binds to the corresponding molecule, causing certain electrochemical changes, thus exciting nerve impulses in sensor nerve fibers connecting to taste cells. They spread through nerves to the brain. Then the taste is perceived and felt. There are certain taste areas on the tongue where taste buds concentrated in taste cells recognizing a particular taste. Receptors in the front part of the tongue perceive sweetness, those in the back part – bitterness, those on the sides of the tongue – sourness, and at the tip and edges – saltiness.

Source | Glossary of Most Commonly Used Biomedical Terms and Concepts | Lithuanian University of Health Sciences | Academician Professor Antanas Praškevičius, Professor Laima Ivanovienė