LiCl-induced sickness modulates spontaneous activity and response dynamics in rat gustatory cortex.

Gustatory Cortex (GC), a structure deeply involved in the making of consumption decisions, presumably performs this function by integrating information about taste, experiences, and internal states related to the animal’s health, such as illness. Here, we investigated this assertion, examining whether illness is represented in GC activity, and how this representation impacts taste responses and behavior. We recorded GC single-neuron activity and local field potentials (LFP) from healthy rats and (the same) rats made ill ( via LiCl injection). We show (consistent with the extant literature) that the onset of illness-related behaviors arises contemporaneously with alterations in spontaneous 7-12Hz LFP power at ~11 min following injection. This process was accompanied by reductions in single-neuron taste response magnitudes and discriminability, and with enhancements in palatability-relatedness – a result reflecting the collapse of responses toward a simple “good-bad” code arising in a specific subset of GC neurons. Overall, our data show that a state (illness) that profoundly reduces consumption changes basic properties of the sensory cortical response to tastes, in a manner that can easily explain illness’ impact on consumption.

Overlapping Representation of Basic Tastes in the Human Gustatory Cortex

The topological representation is a fundamental property of human primary sensory cortices. The human gustatory cortex (GC) responds to the five basic tastes: bitter, salty, sweet, umami, and sour. However, the topological representation of the human gustatory cortex remains controversial. Through functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) measurements of human responses to the five basic tastes, the current study aimed to delineate the taste representations within the GC. During the scanning, the volunteers tasted solutions of the five basic tastes, then washed their mouths with the tasteless solution. The solutions were then sucked from the volunteers' mouths, eliminating the action of swallowing. The results showed that the bilateral mid-insula activated most during the taste task, and the active areas were mainly in the precentral and central insular sulcus. However, the regions responding to the five basic tastes are substantially overlapped, and the analysis of contrasts between each taste response and the averaged response to the remaining tastes does not report any significant results. Furthermore, in the gustatory insular cortex, the multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) was unable to distinguish the activation patterns of the basic tastes, suggesting the possibility of weakly clustered distribution of the taste-preference neural activities in the human insular cortex. In conclusion, the presented results suggest overlapping representations of the basic tastes in the human gustatory insular cortex.

Improving the Quality of Crackers by Integrating the Taguchi Method and Failure Modes and Effects Analyze (Fmea) in Cv. Nobility

CV Budi Luhur is a company that produces onion crackers as their main product. In addition, CV Budi Luhur also produces shrimp juice crackers. The company located in Tulangan Sidoarjo is not missed also with the name of failure. For example, in onion cracker products there are problems with taste and crispness so that there is a decrease in sales. Data processing begins by disseminating questionnaires to consumers, then identifying problems using FMEA methods and conducting interviews with companies so as to provide alternatives to determine the best composition for experiments and take the best level at each pre experiment aimed at consumers to be processed in the minitab19 application and draft proposals to compare consumer interest in old compositions and new compositions.From the results of data processing by using Taguchi in the results of the mean 2 population test conducted showed an increase in taste response and humility response where the taste response got interest by 53% from the initial 18% and the humility response got an interest of 58% from the initial 23%. This shows the similarity of the draft proposal is preferred by consumers in terms of taste and humility.

Loss of Stk11 in basolateral amygdalar projection neurons impairs CTA learning by altering the temporal pattern of taste response plasticity in GC

Gustatory cortex (GC) responds to tastes on the tongue with dynamic ensemble activity that represents first the presence, then the identity, and finally the hedonic value (palatability) of tastes. This final state of the taste response is uniquely altered by conditioned taste aversion (CTA) -- a powerful one-trial learning paradigm in which a taste becomes aversive after association with gastric malaise -- a process requiring coordination between GC and basolateral amygdala (BLA). One key requirement for learning in this circuit is expression of the serine/threonine kinase 11 (Stk11) gene (a tumor suppression gene which has only recently been associated with learning). When Stk11 is knocked out in BLA projection neurons (BLApn), CTA learning fails to occur. Here we have examined how learning-related response plasticity in GC taste responses is impacted by the knockout of Stk11 in BLApn. Contrary to the commonly held assumption that a lack of learning means a lack of such plasticity, but consistent with the fact that Stk11KO has been shown to increase the excitability of BLApn, our data reveal that the knockout of Stk11 in BLApn does not eliminate plasticity; rather, it shifts the impact of CTA training on GC taste responses to an earlier, learning-inappropriate epoch. Even naïve taste representations are altered -- specifically, the pattern of similarities and differences among the different taste responses are rendered abnormal by Stk11 KO, and these relationships fail to change with training. Finally, the latency of behavior-related dynamic ensemble features of the GC taste response, which is also abnormal in naïve KO mice, is rendered disorganized by CTA. Together, these results suggest that Stk11 plays a role in governing the coordination of GC activity by BLA, and demonstrate that alterations in the function of BLApn caused by Stk11KO inhibit learning not by inhibiting plasticity but by changing its temporal properties.

Perturbation of amygdala-cortical projections reduces ensemble coherence of palatability coding in gustatory cortex

Taste palatability is centrally involved in consumption decisions—we ingest foods that taste good and reject those that don't. Gustatory cortex (GC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) almost certainly work together to mediate palatability-driven behavior, but the precise nature of their interplay during taste decision-making is still unknown. To probe this issue, we discretely perturbed (with optogenetics) activity in rats’ BLA→GC axons during taste deliveries. This perturbation strongly altered GC taste responses, but while the perturbation itself was tonic (2.5 s), the alterations were not—changes preferentially aligned with the onset times of previously-described taste response epochs, and reduced evidence of palatability-related activity in the ‘late-epoch’ of the responses without reducing the amount of taste identity information available in the ‘middle epoch.’ Finally, BLA→GC perturbations changed behavior-linked taste response dynamics themselves, distinctively diminishing the abruptness of ensemble transitions into the late epoch. These results suggest that BLA ‘organizes’ behavior-related GC taste dynamics.

The Lawless Demand of Judgements of Taste: Response to Dunn

ABSTRACTI respond to Dunn's claim that aesthetic judgements must be normative for Kant by (I) clarifying my position: it is not the case that on my account the strength of the feeling of pleasure implies that others should agree with my judgement; instead, the disinterestedness of the feeling is the basis for agreement, (II) arguing against the claim that Kant's broader system requires normative judgements of taste, and (III) arguing against the suggestion that any operation of a faculty in accordance with a principle is normative.

Correlation of PTC Taste Status with Fungiform Papillae Count and Body Mass Index in Smokers and Non-Smokers of Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia

Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) is a bitter compound that is similar in taste to the polyphenols present in most vegetables and fruits. The human taste response towards this compound influences dietary preference, which has a bearing on an individual’s body mass index (BMI). Another factor that influences taste perception is fungiform papillae count. This, in turn, is governed by genetic factors or deleterious habits such as smoking. Establishing a link between all the above factors could lead to a wider understanding of obesity, which is a global health issue. PTC taste response, BMI, and fungiform papillae were recorded and statistically analyzed between two groups—smokers and nonsmokers. There was no statistically significant difference between smokers and nonsmokers with regard to PTC tasting ability. However, there was a significant inverse relationship between BMI and PTC tasting ability and fungiform papillae count both in smokers and nonsmokers. Thus, it can be inferred that as BMI increases, there is a lower likelihood of experiencing the bitter taste of PTC. Additionally, the ability to taste PTC decreases with diminishing numbers of fungiform papillae. Smoking does not affect bitter PTC tasting ability despite negatively affecting fungiform papillae count.

Multi-Methodological Quantitative Taste Assessment of Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs to Support the Development of Palatable Paediatric Dosage Forms

The unpalatability of antituberculosis drugs is often cited as a major cause of non-adherence in children, yet limited quantitative taste assessment data are available. The aim of this research was to quantify the bitterness of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol dihydrochloride using two in vivo (a human taste panel and a rat brief-access taste aversion (BATA) model) and one in vitro (sensor) method. The response of the Insent TS-5000Z electronic tongue was compared to the in vivo drug concentration found to elicit and suppress half the maximum taste response (EC50 in human and IC50 in rats). Using dose-relevant concentrations, an overarching rank order of bitterness was derived (rifampicin > ethambutol > pyrazinamid~isoniazid). In vitro, only ethambutol exhibited a linear response for all sensors/concentrations. Based on the EC50/IC50 generated, a ‘taste index’ was proposed to allow for anticipation of the likelihood of taste issues in practice, taking in account the saturability in the saliva and therapeutic doses; ethambutol and isoniazid were found to be the worst tasting using this measure. The study presents the first quantitative taste analysis of these life-saving drugs and has allowed for a comparison of three methods of obtaining such data. Such information allows the operator to identify and prioritise the drugs requiring taste masking to produce palatable formulations.