Salty sensations taste

The salty taste is primarily due to sodium ions acting directly on ion channels. Amiloride specifically blocks sodium channels however, it does not block all responses to salt, in cating more than one mechanism for salty sensation. A different compound, 4-aminopyridine, blocks potassium channels but not sodium. This suggests that receptor proteins and second messengers are not uired, and that these stimuli act directly on ion membrane channels. The physiology of the response of cells to salt has been reviewed (7). 

Redistribution of sodium in a food product (especially between liquid and solid compartments) so as to increase the amount of sodium that reaches the receptors on the tongue. In order to elicit a saltiness sensation, the sodium ions must reach the taste buds. Hence what matters for the saltiness impression is the fraction of accessible sodium ions in contrast to the sodium that one swallows without ever being perceived. This can be influenced by the way the sodium is distributed over the different constituents of the food products. 

Although the total flavor of a food comes from the complex combination of taste, smell, touch, texture or consistency, and temperature sensations, taste is a major factor. Three of the four fundamental tastes are directly linked to acids and bases. Your tongue has four different types of taste buds— sweet, salty, bitter, and sour—that are located at different places on your tongue. Only certain molecules and ions can react with these specific buds to produce a signal that is sent to a certain region of your brain. When these signals are received, your brain processes them, and you sense taste. 

Salty Basic taste sensation associated with table salt (NaCl) diluted in water... 

Sensory perception is both quaUtative and quantitative. The taste of sucrose and the smell of linalool are two different kinds of sensory perceptions and each of these sensations can have different intensities. Sweet, bitter, salty, fmity, floral, etc, are different flavor quaUties produced by different chemical compounds the intensity of a particular sensory quaUty is deterrnined by the amount of the stimulus present. The saltiness of a sodium chloride solution becomes more intense if more of the salt is added, but its quaUty does not change. However, if hydrochloric acid is substituted for sodium chloride, the flavor quahty is sour not salty. For this reason, quaUty is substitutive, and quantity, intensity, or magnitude is additive (13). The sensory properties of food are generally compHcated, consisting of many different flavor quaUties at different intensities. The first task of sensory analysis is to identify the component quahties and then to determine their various intensities. 

Simultaneous stimulation of the tongue with the appHcation of different taste stimuli produces an interaction, modification, or blending of the stimuli in some instances but not in others. Warm and cold sensations are reported to act similarly on the tongue in two groups bitter, warm, and sweet and sour, cold, and salty (24). The theory of the specificity of the taste buds may be subject to modification (25). 

A century ago, Fick proposed the concept of four primary tastes, namely, sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. It has since been found that taste sensations are not describable by a single collection of discrete primaries. Electrophysiological studies of afierent taste-units in the chorda tympani and glossophyrangeal nerves have revealed that a continuous spectrum of gustation may be based on these four taste elements. Furthermore, the intensities of the tastes that we commonly experience are due not only to gustatory sensations but also to tactile, hot and cold, and, above all, olfactory sensations. The complexities of taste studies are such that, unless one of the taste modalities is singled out for study, there is very little hope of success. 

There are five primary taste sensations salty, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami (or savory). The receptors for these tastes are encoded in a few dozen genes in the human genome. These are expressed in taste buds. 

After the saliva has carried the tastants into the taste bud, they interact with the taste receptors on the surface of the cells, or with ion channels, which are pore-like proteins. Salty and sour tastants act through ion channels, and sweet and bitter sensations are mediated by surface receptors. The different taste submodalities rely on specific mechanisms Na+ flux through Na+... 

Reviews of taste sensations normally concentrate on four basic tastes - sweet, salty, sour and bitter (7,2) however, other oral sensations can contribute important information to the perceived flavor (3), Examples of stimulants evoking these very different sensory sensations are shown in TABLE I. Studies on the mechaiusms of perception are usually restricted to sensation-specific stimuli however, food flavors represent an interaction among the various sensations. This chapter describes recent... 

Sour and salty. Within the membrane of the taste cell are ion channels which control the movement of ions, such as sodium, potassium and calcium, into and out of the cell. Sour taste sensations are in part due to the effect of hydrogen ions however, some taste is also a function of the hydrophobicity of the organic acid, such as citric acid (18). Acids can produce a decrease in potassium ion conductance (depolarization) in the membrane. 

There are four basic sensations salty, bitter, sweet, and sour. A combination of efforts is required to mask these tastes. For example, menthol and chloroform act as desensitizing agents a large number of natural and artificial flavors and their combinations are available to mask the bitterness most often found in organic compounds. Most formulators refer the selection of compatible flavors to companies manufacturing these flavors, as they may allow use of their drug master file... 

The direct transformation from the output pattern to the taste quality was performed here as one trial of expressing the actual human sensation using the output electrical pattern. A similar trial was done for evaluation of the strengths of sourness and saltiness, which will be mentioned later. These two trials depend on the utilization of simple transformation equations by extracting typical properties of output patterns. This method is effective if some data on sensory tests, using humans as a standard, can be obtained to compare with the sensor outputs. However, the expressions for the tastes of beer are obscure because they are not described by the five basic taste qualities. The purpose of the application of the taste sensor is also to express these kinds of obscure terms of human sense in scientific terms. 

Cocaine and other local anesthetics abolish not only the sensation of pain, but other special sensations, if they are suitably applied. Here also there is some selection. In the skin, they paralyze first the vasoconstrictor reaction, then progressively the sensations of cold, warmth, touch, tickling, pressure, pain, and joint sense. In the nose, they abolish the olfactory sense. On the tongue, they destroy the taste for bitter substances but have less effect on sweet and sour taste and none on salty taste. When cocaine is applied to the appropriate nerves, it is found that the centrifugal vagus fibers are paralyzed before the centripetal, vasoconstrictor fibers before vasodilator, bronchial constrictors before the dilators, etc. (Sollmann, 1944). 

Wine is one of the most complex and interesting matrices for a number of reasons. It is composed of volatile compounds, some of them responsible for the odor, and nonvolatile compounds which cause taste sensations, such as sweetness (sugars), sourness (organic acids), bitterness (polyphenols), and saltiness (mineral substances Rapp and Mandary, 1986). With a few exceptions, those compounds need to be present in levels of 1%, or even more, to influence taste. Generally, the volatile components can be perceived in much lower concentrations, since our organs are extremely sensitive to certain aroma substances (Rapp et ah, 1986). Carbohydrates (monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides), peptides, proteins, vitamins, and mineral substances are among the other wine constituents. 

The basic sensations—sweet, sour, salty, and bitter—account for the major part of the taste response. However, it is generally agreed that these basic tastes alone cannot completely describe taste. In addition to the four individual tastes, there are important interrelationships among them. One of the most important in foods is the interrelationship between sweet and sour. The sugar-acid... 

In the evaluation of contribution to taste, amino acids and peptides are being studied as to sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umaml [brothy mouth-feel, see (19)] sensations. In the production of gravies and soups, proteins are hydrolyzed to smaller molecules which evoke... 

Taste consists of four primary sensations sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Correspondingly, there are four... 

Of 61 patients in whom hexetidine was used as a buccal and pharyngeal antiseptic, a minority, generally those who had just undergone tonsillectomy, complained of a burning sensation and a salty taste (1). 

Taste receptors reside within taste buds on the tongue, the larynx, and the palate. There are four primary taste sensations sour, sweet, bitter, and salty. By mixing these primary taste sensations, the brain can identify many specific tastes (analogous to primary color mixing). Impulses from the taste buds are carried through the facial, glossopharyngeal, and vagus nerves (cranial nerves VII, IX, and X, respectively) to the brain. Taste is modified by the presence of odor, and in the absence of olfactory ability, taste is virtually eliminated. 

Apart from the five normal basic tastes - sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami- a great many other actions occur in the mouth, although their importance here is limited. The basic taste sensations are experienced in different areas of the tongue. For example, sweetness is tasted more at the tip of the tongue, sour sensation move on the sides towards the back of the tongue and saltiness on both sides towards the front (Fig. 6.2). Bitter sensations are perceived predominantly towards the back of the tongue, although the precise location varies between individuals, in some cases almost as far back as the throat. This is why it is often difficult to ascertain bitterness. It is best to lick a small sample, so that if possible more papillae are reached. 

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