Author ORCID Identifier

Suzanne Sollars

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2016

Publication Title

Chemosensory Perception

Volume

9

Issue

3

First Page

95

Last Page

104

Abstract

Introduction

A cross-sensory interaction between gustatory and trigeminal nerves occurs in the anterior tongue. Surgical manipulations have demonstrated that the strength of this relationship varies across development. Capsaicin is a neurotoxin that affects fibers of the somatosensory lingual nerve surrounding taste buds, but not fibers of the gustatory chorda tympani nerve which synapse with taste receptor cells. Since capsaicin is commonly consumed by many species, including humans, the experimental use of this neurotoxin provides a naturalistic perturbation of the lingual trigeminal system. Neonatal or adult rats consumed oral capsaicin for 40 days, and we examined the cross-sensory effect on the morphology of taste buds across development.

Methods

Rats received moderate doses of oral capsaicin, with chronic treatments occurring either before or after taste system maturation. Tongue morphology was examined either 2 or 50 days after treatment cessation. Edema, which has been previously suggested as a cause of changes in capsaicin-related gustatory function, was also assessed.

Results

Reductions in taste bud volume occurred 50 days, but not 2 days post-treatment for rats treated as neonates. Adult rats at either time post-treatment were unaffected. Edema was not found to occur with the 5 ppm concentration of capsaicin we used.

Conclusions

Results further elucidate the cooperative relationship between these discrete sensory systems and highlight the developmentally mediated aspect of this interaction.

Implications

Chronic exposure to even moderate levels of noxious stimuli during development has the ability to impact the orosensory environment, and these changes may not be evident until long after exposure has ceased.

Comments

“This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Chemosensory Perception. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12078-016-9214-2”.

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