Our sense of taste is an expression of
ourselves. It lets us experience the world, savor the different cuisines, and
live pleasurably. Imagine if you could no longer taste anything. Surely, a
great part of our happiness is taken away- the happiness brought to us by
tasting and sharing food with loved ones. The scientific term for the loss of
taste is called ageusia. This condition is not so much physically serious as it
is mentally. The loss of taste causes individuals to be severely depressed,
leading to great mental impact. Loss of taste is usually also accompanied with
the loss of smell- our pathway for taste and smell are greatly linked. These
two senses not only function in merely tasting food and smelling odors, but
more seriously, taste and smell are interconnected with memory and learning.
Certainly, all of us have specific tastes and smells that cause us to recall
memories. Losing these senses, therefore, have far greater impacts than quality
of life.
Ageusia can be attributed to
various factors. Serious conditions causing ageusia include oral cancer, brain
damage and injuries due to stroke or radiotherapy, or surgery performed in the
ENT area that has damaged nerves essential for gustatory senses. Natural aging
can cause decrease sense of taste, although usually not complete loss. There
are also various forms of taste disorders besides ageusia which include
hypogeusia, dysgeusia, and phantogeusia, all of which are caused by the lack of
proper function of the gustatory nerves and system. Certain forms of these
disorders are hard to cure- especially if the loss of taste is due to an
autoimmune disorder or genetic conditions. However, information on gustatory
signaling pathway can help us develop a drug that patients which such
conditions can take in order to increase innervation of the gustatory nerves.
Dr.
Rochlin’s study, “Ephrin-B/EphB Signaling
Is Required for Normal Innervation of Lingual Gustatory Papillae”, makes
exciting discoveries on the gustatory pathway which expands our knowledge on
key mechanisms, allowing us to apply this information in a clinical setting to
develop a solution to disorders such as ageusia. This study discovers that proteins
EphB1 and EphB2 are essential for proper and necessary gustatory innervation of
the mammalian tongue. It is stated that this study provides the first evidence
for the role of ephrins in the lingual gustatory epithelium and the discovery that
EphB proteins are expressed in taste axons. It also highlights the requirement
of ephrin-B/EphB for normal innervation of papillae. The results of Dr.
Rochlin’s study contributes greatly to our knowledge of the gustatory pathway
and allows further research to be continued to discover yet greater details of
human gustatory senses. Furthermore, these results allow scientists to research
into developing drugs that increases Eph-B proteins which are required for
proper innervation of the papillae for patients with ageusia. If such a drug
were developed, patients that have lost their sense of taste to oral cancers or
aging have a chance of recovering their senses via pharmaceuticals.
In
the article by Science Daily titled, “Regenerating
lost taste buds: Key steps discovered”, another important protein that
plays a great role in developing taste buds was discovered. The beta-catenin
protein is part of the Wnt pathway which regulates separate stages of taste
cell turnovers which then controls the renewal of taste cells. Activating the
Wnt pathway can be a solution to renewing taste buds that are destroyed or
altered by chemotherapy for cancer patients. Since chemotherapy destroys
precursor cells which turn into the various taste cells, this pathway can help
restore proper function in patients receiving chemotherapy for oral cancers,
thus reinstating their sense of taste.
Combining
the results from this study as well as Dr. Rochlin’s study that emphasizes the
role of EphB proteins in the gustatory pathway, the development of a drug that
regulates taste dysfunction and restores taste in patients that are aging or
have lost the ability to taste due to oral cancers is in the very near future.
This is great news and a new-found hope to those who suffer from ageusia since
restoration of their sense of taste will not only allow for a better quality of
life but a better mental state.
References:
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