What Exactly is "Taste"?
Each person’s mouth sense a little bit differently. This is the result of a sensory reaction to a combination of 5 tastes:
1) sweet
2) sour
3) salty
4) bitter
5) unami (savory)

These tastes are a response to physiochemical and psychological activity. The word, "flavor," refers to a mixed sensation of taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound, all of which combine to produce an infinite number of gradations in the perception of a substance.

Taste Buds
Taste buds located on the tongue have very sensitive nerve endings that react, in the presence of moisture, with flavors in the mouth, and as a result of physiochemical activity, create electrical impulses. The electrical impulses are produced and transmitted via the seventh, ninth, and tenth cranial nerves to the areas of the brain devoted to the perception of taste. Some taste buds are specialized in function, and specific areas on the tongue are sensitive to only one type of taste. The brain, however, usually perceives taste as a composite sensation and, accordingly, the components of any flavor are not readily discernible.
Children have more taste buds than adults and therefore are more sensitive to taste.
Accordingly, individual sensitivity must be considered when dispensing FLAVORx to match a patient's likes and dislikes.
Even more sensitive than taste is odor. There are about 10,000 to 30,000 identifiable scents, of which the average person can identify only about 4,000.

Taste Bud Locations
Taste receptor cells are located in taste buds found primarily on the back, sides, and tip of the tongue, as well as on the palate and the throat. One end of these specialized cells is exposed at the surface of the tissue to the environment in the mouth. In response to taste stimuli, the cell releases chemical neurotransmitters, which stimulate the nerve fiber that send signals to the brain.

Recent studies indicate that interactions among cells within a single taste bud may be involved in modulating and shaping taste responses. There might be several modes of interaction, including electrical coupling among a small group of adjacent taste cells and chemical communication through the local release modulators. Such interactions create an opportunity for considerable processing of taste information before signals are transmitted to the brain.
Binding of taste molecules to membrane receptor protein activates taste receptor cells by generating intracellular compounds called "second messengers" (the taste stimulus is the first messenger). Second messengers alter electrical properties of the taste cells and modulate the release of neurotransmitters. The responses of taste receptor cells to taste stimuli involve changes in the flux of potassium, sodium, and calcium through pores or channels in the cells membrane. These fluxes determine the response of taste cells to stimulation by different taste stimuli.

Glutamate has a unique savory taste called "unami." In addition to being a natural constituent of many foods, glutamine is often used to enhance flavor. Studies suggest that several receptors for glutamate may be involved in the taste of unami. Ion channels in tissue from taste areas on the tongue are activated by low concentrations of glutamate, and compounds that enhance unami taste further amplify this activation.

Extensive experience with animal models enables scientists to examine molecular mechanisms for taste in humans. Taste cells are isolated from sample of human tongue tissue obtained from volunteers and studied for their response to different taste stimuli. Biochemical, biophysical, and molecular biological studies are underway to determine how taste sensations in humans are generated and perpetuated into signals for the nervous system.

Perception of tastes, odors, and chemical irritants begin with the activation of sensory cells in the mouth, nose and skin. These receptor cells have specialized features that make them sensitive to particular chemicals. Chemosensory stimulation triggers the flow of molecular and cellular events that translate information about the stimulus into a signal to the nervous system. The encoded information is then transmitted to appropriate brain areas to initiate and maintain the sensory experience.

All medicines are made from base drugs or combinations of drugs that send different triggers to the brain and nervous system. Some of these drugs trigger a bitter or chalky sensation; others trigger smell receptors. FLAVORx technology has taken into account these triggers in developing formulations. Flavoring is a science that takes not only external issues into account but physiological ones as well.

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