Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor (nAChR) Dependent Chorda Tympani Taste Nerve Responses to Nicotine, Ethanol and Acetylcholine

Authors

Zuo Jun Ren, Virginia Commonwealth University
Shobha Mummalaneni, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Jie Qian, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Clive M. Baumgarten, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
John A. DeSimone, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Vijay Lyall, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2015

Journal/Book/Conference Title

PLoS ONE

Volume

10

Issue

6

DOI of Original Publication

10.1371/journal.pone.0127936

Comments

Originally published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127936

Date of Submission

November 2015

Abstract

Nicotine elicits bitter taste by activating TRPM5-dependent and TRPM5-independent but neuronal nAChR-dependent pathways. The nAChRs represent common targets at which acetylcholine, nicotine and ethanol functionally interact in the central nervous system. Here, we investigated if the nAChRs also represent a common pathway through which the bitter taste of nicotine, ethanol and acetylcholine is transduced. To this end, chorda tympani (CT) taste nerve responses were monitored in rats, wild-type mice and TRPM5 knockout (KO) mice following lingual stimulation with nicotine free base, ethanol, and acetylcholine, in the absence and presence of nAChR agonists and antagonists. The nAChR modulators: mecamylamine, dihydro-β-erythroidine, and CP-601932 (a partial agonist of the α3β4* nAChR), inhibited CT responses to nicotine, ethanol, and acetylcholine. CT responses to nicotine and ethanol were also inhibited by topical lingual application of 8-chlorophenylthio (CPT)-cAMP and loading taste cells with [Ca2+]i by topical lingual application of ionomycin + CaCl2. In contrast, CT responses to nicotine were enhanced when TRC [Ca2+]i was reduced by topical lingual application of BAPTA-AM. In patch-clamp experiments, only a subset of isolated rat fungiform taste cells exposed to nicotine responded with an increase in mecamylamine-sensitive inward currents. We conclude that nAChRs expressed in a subset of taste cells serve as common receptors for the detection of the TRPM5-independent bitter taste of nicotine, acetylcholine and ethanol.

Rights

Copyright: © 2015 Ren et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Is Part Of

VCU Physiology and Biophysics Publications