Probing the multimodal fungiform papilla: complex peripheral nerve endings of chorda tympani taste and mechanosensitive fibers before and after Hedgehog pathway inhibition.

ABSTRACT: The fungiform papilla (FP) is a gustatory and somatosensory structure incorporating chorda tympani (CT) nerve fibers that innervate taste buds (TB) and also contain somatosensory endings for touch and temperature. Hedgehog (HH) pathway inhibition eliminates TB, but CT innervation remains in the FP. Importantly, after HH inhibition, CT neurophysiological responses to taste stimuli are eliminated, but tactile responses remain. To examine CT fibers that respond to tactile stimuli in the absence of TB, we used Phox2b-Cre; Rosa26^LSL-TdTomato reporter mice to selectively label CT fibers with TdTomato. Normally CT fibers project in a compact bundle directly into TB, but after HH pathway inhibition, CT fibers reorganize and expand just under the FP epithelium where TB were. This widened

SUBMITTER: Donnelly CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8821500 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature