Taste &

Prenatal Development

Week 9.1: March 6, 2017 1

1. Finish up taste
2. Prenatal development
1. From fertilization to gastrulation
2. Formation of the neural plate
3. Formation of the neural tube
4. Proliferation of neural progenitors

2
 transduction
SALTINESS
If there are enough positive
sodium ions going into the
cell, the calcium channels open.

Amiloride-sensitive
sodium channel

http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~gardner
/sensory_receptors.htm 3
 transduction
SOURNESS

The positive charge

builds up at a result,
opening the calcium
channels.

H+ can also depolarize a

cell with amiloride-
sensitive sodium channels!

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 transduction
BITTERNESS, SWEETNESS, UMAMI

Unlike sour or salt tastes, these three tastes are

mediated by specialized receptors (metabotropic
G-protein coupled receptors)

Two families of taste receptor

- T1R family three types: T1R1, T1R2, T1R3
for sweetness and UMAMI

- T2R family at least 30 distinct types

for bitterness
bitterness often signals toxins 5
 transduction
BITTERNESS, SWEETNESS, UMAMI
T1R2 + T1R3 dimer detects
sweet substances,
E.g., sugars and artificial
Heterodimer of T1R2 and T1R3 sweeteners
for sweet tastes
hetero- different | dimer- two

T1R1 + T1R3 dimers detects

various protein components
in food and mediates the
Heterodimer of T1R1 and taste quality of umami
T1R3 for UMAMI tastes

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 pathways
primary somatosensory cortex
Gustatory cortex

Ventromedial posterior
nucleus of the
thalamus

every sense has paths going through the thalamus;

exception: olfaction

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study aid for memory-- not required memorization

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 Gustatory stimuli interact with the microvilli in taste buds to open ion channels
leading to changes in membrane potential

Signal goes to the cranial nerves 7 (facial), 9 (glossopharyngeal), or 10 (vagus).

These form the main gustatory nerve, the solitary tract

The solitary tract divides in 2 when it enters the brainstem

Posterior medulla Pons

Ventroposterior medial nucleus of the

thalamus hypothalamus amygdala
Gustatory awareness of feeling sated important for processing
S1 for one taste but not another emotions-- disgust of food,
cortex in insula
enjoyment of sugar
texture of food

Orbital cortex
 discrimination

Taste cells respond to

more than one taste
(although differentially)

Some taste cells are

more sensitive to
certain tastes (others
are not)

Distinct tastes are

discriminated by distinct
firing patterns of
gustatory neurons
The same neuron can mediate many tastes, determined by rate of firing

Different cells mediates the tastes at different levels.

 Damage Ageusia
More common = hypoageusia
Can be caused by
Neurological disorders
Endocrine disruption
E.g., zinc or niacin
deficiency
Dysgeusia = altered sense of
taste
1. Finish up taste
2. Prenatal development
1. From fertilization to gastrulation
2. Formation of the neural plate
3. Formation of the neural tube
4. Proliferation of neural progenitors

13
Prenatal development = from single fertilized egg to
new born infant
Pictures of a human embryo (from day 0 to 60)
 Your
Grandma Your mom

Half of you
Your dad

Sperm
continuously
generated after
puberty
 key steps
1. Fertilization to gastrulation

2. Formation of the neural plate

3. Formation of the neural tube

4. Proliferation of neural progenitors

5. Differentiation (birth of neurons)

6. Neuron Migration

7. Axon growth and synapse formation

Day 0: ovum and sperm fuse to produce a zygote
Day 3-4: a ball of cells known as a Morula is formed
Day 6: the morula becomes a Blastocyst
Day 6: the morula becomes a Blastocyst
Day 7-10: the blastocyst embeds itself in the uterine wall
Day 8-9: the inner cell mass of
the blastocyst develops into 2
cell layers that are collectively
called a blastodisc
Hypoblast
Epiblast
25
 Cross section of a blastodisc

Day 12: Gastrulation occurs producing 3 embryonic cell

layers from the blastodisc
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Three cell layers (cell fates)
Ectoderm (outermost)
Nervous system
Epidermis (skin)

Endoderm (innermost)
Gastrointestinal tract
Respiratory tract
Endocrine glands

Mesoderm (middle)
Everything else (muscles,
bones, cartilage, blood,
blood vessels, genitourinary
system, etc) 27
 Zygote
Morula
Blastocyst

Blastodisc
Epiblast and hypoblast

Gastrulation

Ectoderm Mesoderm Endoderm

Nervous Everything else Gastrointestinal

system Blood, muscles, tract
cartilage, etc Respiratory tract
skin
Endocrine glands
1. Finish up taste
2. Prenatal development
1. From fertilization to gastrulation
2. Formation of the neural plate
3. Formation of the neural tube
4. Proliferation of neural progenitors

29
Day 18: a patch of cells on the ectoderm forms the neural plate
and a group of mesodermal cells condense to form the
notochord, a rod-shaped structure, underneath the neural plate
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1. Finish up taste
2. Prenatal development
1. From fertilization to gastrulation
2. Formation of the neural plate
3. Formation of the neural tube
4. Proliferation of neural progenitors

31
Day 20: neural plate cells roll up to form the neural groove and
then fuses (in the next couple of days) to form the neural tube
Neural crest cells dorsal root ganglia and peripheral nervous
system
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Day 22: neural tube is formed.
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 Most of the neural tube spinal cord,
Anterior part enlarges to form three vesicles: forebrain, midbrain,
hindbrain 34
Cross section through
this tube is shown
here

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 Ectoderm Mesoderm

neural plate skin notochord

Rolls up
Neural tube Neural crest cells
thickens
Cavity inside
becomes -Spinal Dorsal root ganglia
-cerebral cord
ventricles in -Forebrain
brain -Midbrain
-central canal -Hindbrain
in spinal cord
1. Finish up taste
2. Prenatal development
1. From fertilization to gastrulation
2. Formation of the neural plate
3. Formation of the neural tube
4. Proliferation of neural progenitors

37
 Layers in the thickened neural
tube are divided into three
zones
Marginal zone (outermost)
Mantle zone
Ependymal zone (innermost)

Ventricular zone
= mantle zone + ependymal
zone
where neuronal progenitor cells
proliferate to produce more
progenitor cells or neurons

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1. Finish up taste
2. Prenatal development
1. From fertilization to gastrulation
2. Formation of the neural plate
3. Formation of the neural tube
4. Proliferation of neural progenitors

39
 20 MC questions
Will cover
Auditory system
Somatosensory system
Motor control
Olfaction
Taste
Development
Held in University college
A-L Room 266
M-Z Room 273