Mechanisms of salty and bitter chemoreception in humans are not well understood, in part because compounds that block these tastes have not been available; and importantly, because animals models for salty and bitter taste perceptions are not fully applicable. Chlorhexidine glueonate, a bis-biguanide antiseptic, and weak cathodal electric current greatly decrease salty and bitter tastes. Besides adaptation, no other experimental manipulations are known to have comparable effects in humans. Chlorhexidine is very bitter, but not salty. Chlorhexidine binds strongly to tissue, which may be related to its unique bis-cationic structure, giving it a long-lasting effect. Human psychophysical experiments are proposed. Cation/anion specificity of salty-bitter taste inhibition by 3 levels of chlorhexidine and 2 levels of weak cathodal current is studied with experiments utilizing rating of taste intensity and taste-quality identification of equi-intense stimuli. Taste stimulus identification is studied after treatment with two levels of chlorhexidine with measures of information transferred (in bits). T10, a measure of consistency, is computed from a matrix of 10 replicate identifications of 10 stimuli. Forty-five T2s, measures of stimulus discriminability, are computed for all possible stimulus pairs. This """"""""confusion-matrix"""""""" methodology is an efficient and objective method for determining discriminability of multiple stimuli. Various salt and bitter stimulus combinations are included in sets of equi-intense stimuli to test the hypothesis that chlorhexidine affects ionic bitter stimuli more than nonionic bitter stimuli. Two levels of chlorhexidine are used with concentration series of sucrose, NaCI, citric acid and quinine HCl to address the nature of the inhibition. Effects of adaptation to other bitter stimuli on the bitter taste of chlorhexidine are studied to establish whether one mechanism of action of chlorhexidine could involve its binding to a subset of bitter receptors. The experiments address the general hypothesis that transduction of salty stimuli is unitary, depending on ion-transport pathways; but bitter transduction is multiple, including ionic and non-ionic mechanisms. Greater understanding of gustatory perceptual processing in humans may lead to better management of taste disorders such as distressful salty-bitter dysgeusias and excessive salt intake.
| Frank, Marion E; Goyert, Holly F; Formaker, Bradley K et al. (2012) Effects of selective adaptation on coding sugar and salt tastes in mixtures. Chem Senses 37:701-9 |
| Frank, Marion E; Goyert, Holly F; Hettinger, Thomas P (2010) Time and intensity factors in identification of components of odor mixtures. Chem Senses 35:777-87 |
| Wang, Miao-Fen; Marks, Lawrence E; Frank, Marion E (2009) Taste coding after selective inhibition by chlorhexidine. Chem Senses 34:653-66 |
| Hettinger, Thomas P; Frank, Marion E (2009) Salt taste inhibition by cathodal current. Brain Res Bull 80:107-15 |
| Frank, Marion E; Lundy Jr, Robert F; Contreras, Robert J (2008) Cracking taste codes by tapping into sensory neuron impulse traffic. Prog Neurobiol 86:245-63 |
| Grover, Ruchi; Frank, Marion E (2008) Regional specificity of chlorhexidine effects on taste perception. Chem Senses 33:311-8 |
| Goyert, Holly F; Frank, Marion E; Gent, Janneane F et al. (2007) Characteristic component odors emerge from mixtures after selective adaptation. Brain Res Bull 72:1-9 |
