GABA expression in the mammalian taste bud functions as a route of inhibitory cell-to-cell communication.

ABSTRACT: Recent advances have underscored cell-to-cell communication as an important component of the operation of taste buds with individual taste receptor cells (TRCs) communicating with one another by means of a number of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, although functional roles are not yet understood. Here, we characterize the presence, distribution pattern, phenotype, and functional consequences of a previously undescribed inhibitory route within the taste bud mediated by the classic neurotransmitter GABA and its receptors. By using immunocytochemistry, subsets of TRCs within rat taste buds were identified as expressing GABA, and its synthetic enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (GAD). GAD expression was verified with Western blotting. Immunofluorescent studies revealed complex coexpression pa

SUBMITTER: Cao Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2656195 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature