TY - JOUR
T1 - Differential bitterness in capsaicin, piperine, and ethanol associates with polymorphisms in multiple bitter taste receptor genes
AU - Nolden, Alissa A.
AU - McGeary, John E.
AU - Hayes, John E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant from the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders [DC010904] to JEH and the National Center for Research Resources to JEM [RR023457], and Shared equipment grants (ShEEP) from the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veteran Affairs to JEM. AAN received additional support from the National Institutes of Health via an institutional Clinical and Translational Sciences TL1 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences [TR000125], and a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) from the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders [F31DC01465]. Additional support was provided by United States Department of Agriculture Hatch Project [PEN04332] funds, and funds from the Pennsylvania State University. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The authors would like to thank Dr. Emma L. Feeney, Dr. Nadia K. Byrnes, and Ms. Meghan Kane for their assistance in collecting psychophysical data, as well as Kayla Beaucage for genotyping our DNA samples. We also thank our study participants for their time and participation.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant from the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders [ DC010904 ] to JEH and the National Center for Research Resources to JEM [ RR023457 ], and Shared equipment grants (ShEEP) from the Medical Research Service of the Department of Veteran Affairs to JEM. AAN received additional support from the National Institutes of Health via an institutional Clinical and Translational Sciences TL1 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences [ TR000125 ], and a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) from the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders [ F31DC01465 ]. Additional support was provided by United States Department of Agriculture Hatch Project [ PEN04332 ] funds, and funds from the Pennsylvania State University . The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015.
PY - 2016/3/15
Y1 - 2016/3/15
N2 - To date, the majority of research exploring associations with genetic variability in bitter taste receptors has understandably focused on compounds and foods that are predominantly or solely perceived as bitter. However, other chemosensory stimuli are also known to elicit bitterness as a secondary sensation. Here we investigated whether TAS2R variation explains individual differences in bitterness elicited by chemesthetic stimuli, including capsaicin, piperine and ethanol. We confirmed that capsaicin, piperine and ethanol elicit bitterness in addition to burning/stinging sensations. Variability in perceived bitterness of capsaicin and ethanol were significantly associated with TAS2R38 and TAS2R3/. 4/. 5 diplotypes. For TAS2R38, PAV homozygotes perceived greater bitterness from capsaicin and ethanol presented on circumvallate papillae, compared to heterozygotes and AVI homozygotes. For TAS2R3/. 4/. 5, CCCAGT homozygotes rated the greatest bitterness, compared to heterozygotes and TTGGAG homozygotes, for both ethanol and capsaicin when presented on circumvallate papillae. Additional work is needed to determine how these and other chemesthetic stimuli differ in bitterness perception across concentrations and presentation methods. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to determine which TAS2R receptors are activated in vitro by chemesthetic compounds.
AB - To date, the majority of research exploring associations with genetic variability in bitter taste receptors has understandably focused on compounds and foods that are predominantly or solely perceived as bitter. However, other chemosensory stimuli are also known to elicit bitterness as a secondary sensation. Here we investigated whether TAS2R variation explains individual differences in bitterness elicited by chemesthetic stimuli, including capsaicin, piperine and ethanol. We confirmed that capsaicin, piperine and ethanol elicit bitterness in addition to burning/stinging sensations. Variability in perceived bitterness of capsaicin and ethanol were significantly associated with TAS2R38 and TAS2R3/. 4/. 5 diplotypes. For TAS2R38, PAV homozygotes perceived greater bitterness from capsaicin and ethanol presented on circumvallate papillae, compared to heterozygotes and AVI homozygotes. For TAS2R3/. 4/. 5, CCCAGT homozygotes rated the greatest bitterness, compared to heterozygotes and TTGGAG homozygotes, for both ethanol and capsaicin when presented on circumvallate papillae. Additional work is needed to determine how these and other chemesthetic stimuli differ in bitterness perception across concentrations and presentation methods. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to determine which TAS2R receptors are activated in vitro by chemesthetic compounds.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.01.017
DO - 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.01.017
M3 - Article
C2 - 26785164
AN - SCOPUS:84955095977
SN - 0031-9384
VL - 156
SP - 117
EP - 127
JO - Physiology and Behavior
JF - Physiology and Behavior
ER -