Taste Receptor Cell Responses to the Bitter Stimulus Denatonium Involve Ca2+ Influx Via Store-Operated Channels

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2002-06-01

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Program

Citation of Original Publication

Tatsuya Ogura, Robert F. Margolskee, and Sue C. Kinnamon, Taste Receptor Cell Responses to the Bitter Stimulus Denatonium Involve Ca2+ Influx Via Store-Operated Channels, . J Neurophysiol 87: 3152–3155, 2002; 10.1152/jn.00780.2001.

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Abstract

Previous studies in rat and mouse have shown that brief exposure to the bitter stimulus denatonium induces an increase in [Ca2+]i due to Ca2+ release from intracellular Ca2+ stores, rather than Ca2+influx. We report here that prolonged exposure to denatonium induces sustained increases in [Ca2+]i that are dependent on Ca2+ influx. Similar results were obtained from taste cells of the mudpuppy, Necturus maculosus, as well as green fluorescent protein (GFP) tagged gustducin-expressing taste cells of transgenic mice. In a subset of mudpuppy taste cells, prolonged exposure to denatonium induced oscillatory Ca2+responses. Depletion of Ca2+ stores by thapsigargin also induced Ca2+ influx, suggesting that Ca2+store-operated channels (SOCs) are present in both mudpuppy taste cells and gustducin-expressing taste cells of mouse. Further, treatment with thapsigargin prevented subsequent responses to denatonium, suggesting that the SOCs were the source of the Ca2+ influx. These data suggest that SOCs may contribute to bitter taste transduction and to regulation of Ca2+ homeostasis in taste cells.