简介

In recent years there has been a surge of interest in identifying membrane receptors responsible for detecting the taste of foods and other ingestible substances. Knowledge about these receptors may be very important for dietary regulation of people in general and may be especially important for people with health issues that lead to dietary challenges, e.g., diabetics, cardiovascular disease, elderly, mentally challenged. My research is focused on two areas of taste. One area of interest, supported by the National Science Foundation for the last four years, involves ongoing behavioral, physiological and molecular studies of taste transduction (receptor mechanisms), afferent signaling (CNS neuronal coding), and perception (behavioral) of umami and L-amino acid substances. These studies are summarized below. We also are developing research studies examining the effects of chemotherapy drugs on taste functions and on the morphological components of the peripheral portion of the system in the mouth and especially the tongue with the goal of determining whether detection of L-amino acids are adversely affected by chemotherapy drugs.