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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 292/2/G457    most recent 00411.2006v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (5) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sternini, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Sternini, C.

THEMES

Taste Receptors in the Gastrointestinal Tract. IV. Functional implications of bitter taste receptors in gastrointestinal chemosensing

Center for Ulcer Research and Education Digestive Diseases Research Center, Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Digestive Diseases Division, Departments of Medicine and Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California

Submitted 2 September 2006 ; accepted in final form 31 October 2006

Changes in the luminal contents of the gastrointestinal tract modulate gastrointestinal functions, including absorption of nutrients, food intake, and protection against harmful substances. The current notion is that mucosal enteroendocrine cells act as primary chemoreceptors by releasing signaling molecules in response to changes in the luminal environment, which in turn activate nerve terminals. The recent discovery that taste receptors and G protein subunits -gustducin and -transducin, involved in gustatory signal transduction, are expressed in the gastrointestinal mucosa supports the concept of a chemosensory machinery in the gastrointestinal tract. An understanding of luminal sensing processes responsible for the generation of the appropriate functional response to specific nutrients and nonnutrients is of clinical importance since aberrant or unsteady responses to changes in luminal contents might result in disease states ranging from intoxication to feeding disorders and inflammation. The purpose of this theme article is to discuss the functional implications of bitter taste signaling molecules in the gastrointestinal tract deduced by their localization in selected populations of epithelial cells and their relationship with neural pathways responsible for the generation of specific responses to luminal contents.

-gustducin; -transducin; enteroendocrine cells; intrinsic afferent neurons; visceral afferent neurons; chemoreception

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