Taste is often thought only to be found in the mouth through the receptors found in our taste buds. However, scientists have discovered that both the cells of the gut and the cells that line the airways both have taste receptors. And with the revelation that the muscles that contract during an asthma attack can also signal sweet, bitter and salty, a potential breakthrough in asthma treatment has been found.
Bitter chemicals such as quinine and denatonium may now be utilised in a new generation of bronchodilators, the reliever medication that relaxes the airways affected by asthma, allowing the sufferer to breathe more easily. These substances have been shown to relax muscle cells affected by asthma and so could be used to relieve symptoms and stop an asthma attack.
Rohghua ZhuGe is a microbiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School whose field of expertise is examining the cell signalling involved in muscle function. This is the process that helps to regulate blood pressure and relieve constriction in the airways.
He followed up on experiments that revealed how bitter compounds actually help muscle cells to relax by using the muscle airway cells of mice to detail the signalling that causes the cells to relax. This same process is used with bronchodilators. ZhuGe and his team used quinine and denatonium, considered the most bitter chemical compound in existence, in their experiments and confirmed that the taste receptors in the airways do relax when bitter tastes are introduced.
The compounds used were also found to be much more effective than current asthma treatments in relaxing the airways. The chronic respiratory condition causes inflammation of the airways, leading to coughing, wheezing, tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing for the sufferer.
The next stage of any research will involve using other compounds that could be utilised in bronchodilators, which could then be potentially more effective in relieving and reducing the symptoms of asthma.
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