Heat activation of TRPM5 underlies thermal sensitivity of sweet taste

Karel Talavera (), Keiko Yasumatsu, Thomas Voets, Guy Droogmans, Noriatsu Shigemura, Yuzo Ninomiya, Robert F. Margolskee and Bernd Nilius
Additional contact information
Karel Talavera: Campus Gasthuisberg, KU Leuven
Keiko Yasumatsu: Kyushu University
Thomas Voets: Campus Gasthuisberg, KU Leuven
Guy Droogmans: Campus Gasthuisberg, KU Leuven
Noriatsu Shigemura: Kyushu University
Yuzo Ninomiya: Kyushu University
Robert F. Margolskee: Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Bernd Nilius: Campus Gasthuisberg, KU Leuven

Nature, 2005, vol. 438, issue 7070, 1022-1025

Abstract: Hot and sweet One of the most intriguing features of taste perception is its modulation by temperature. It is well known that warming enhances perceived sweetness and bitterness. In addition, around half of the human population experiences taste sensations just by changing the temperature of the tongue, a phenomenon known as ‘thermal taste’. A possible molecular explanation for these thermal effects on taste is now at hand. Activation of the receptors for sweet, bitter and umami taste in specialized cells of the tongue causes opening of the TRPM5 ion channel. This channel has now been found to be activated by heat. Direct heat activation of TRPM5 could lead to activation of taste receptors even in the absence of anything to taste.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04248 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:438:y:2005:i:7070:d:10.1038_nature04248

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature04248

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().