We study the peripheral sense of taste, with emphasis on
sweet and bitter, their coding in taste fibers, influence
of oral circulation, and the effect of saliva on taste.
Results with electrophysiological recordings from taste
fibers and behavioral studies using several animal models,
are validated with data obtained in human taste panels.
Present projects aim to resolve how sweet compounds
stimulate the taste receptors in humans. We use taste
modifiers, such as gymnemic acid, miraculin and lactosole,
and sweeteners, such as chemical modifications of the sweet
protein, brazzein, to elucidate the tertiary structure of
sweet receptors.
Like telephone cables nerves contain many different fibers, each sending its own message as trains of impulses. Here we record messages in several taste nerve fibers at the same time. Using a computer we can single out the impulses in individual fibers based on their shapes and then group them in clusters as shown in the picture displaying the responses in two single taste fibers; sweet, green and sour, yellow.