Dr. Maffei

Taste is transmitted through the tongue which is covered in these bumps which are mistakenly called taste buds. Their actual name are called papillae and taste buds are found on the walls of papillae in the grooves surrounding them. Each taste bud has up to 50 to 150 taste receptors cells. Tiny hairs that extend from these cells are called fine microvilli also known as taste hairs and extend out of small opening called a taste pore in the mouth. The hairs come into contact with anything that comes in the mouth called tastetance which interact with the taste receptor cells through many different mechanisms to depolarize the cells. When they are polarized they release Neuro transmitters that stimulate sensory neurons that travel in cranial nerves 7, 9, and 10. The message is sent through the solitary tract then to the thalamus, then sent to the gustatory cortex that is region of the cerebral cortex found around the border of between the anterior and insula and a structure called the frontal aperculum. The gustatory cortex allows us to differentiate different tastes like sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami.