From Channels to Behavior: An Integrative Model of NaCl Taste

An issue common to sensory research is how to reconcile transduction mechanisms, elucidated by molecular and physiological studies, with perception. In gustatory research, stimuli and their transduction mechanisms are often characterized in terms of human perceptual experiences--e.g., a mechanism for citric acid--evoked depolarization of a taste receptor cell may be described as a mechanism for sour taste. Because transduction is studied in a variety of species, and because the mechanisms for common stimuli tend to vary across species, this association between transduction events at the receptor level with human perception is problematic. It is therefore important to try to relate transduction mechanisms to both neural organization and behavioral abilities of the model species. Indeed, recent studies in mammalian gustation have used a variety of techniques to construct models that link receptor mechanisms with behavioral responses. Perhaps the most complete model involves the role that the amiloride-sensitive sodium channels (ASSCs) in mammalian taste receptor cells play in determining how an animal discriminates among salt stimuli.