Gustatory and olfactory cells are typical chemical sensors in biological systems, which recognize various species of chemicals in external environments. This paper reviews recent progress in receptor mechanisms of tast and olfaction. It is considered that the initial event of olfactory reception is the binding of odorants to specific receptor proteins in the olfactory cilia. The data presented, however, suggest that lipid layers of the receptor membranes also play an important role in odour reception. For example, membrane fluidity changes induced by a temperature increase of up to 40 °C abolished the ability of olfactory receptors to discriminate odorants having similar structures. Treatment of the olfactory epithelium with phosphatidylserine greatly enhanced the olfactory response to certain species of odorants. The transduction mechanisms of odor reception are also discussed. The paper also deals with characteristics of receptor sites for taste stimuli, the ion dependence of taste responses, and transduction mechanisms.
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Kashiwayanagi et al. (1993) studied this question.
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