Abstract: Molecular mixture models are discussed that connect events at the periphery to taste perception. Application of the models to mixtures of glucose and hctose shows evidence for the existence of a transducer in human sweet taste and provides an hypothesis to explain the superior sweetening power of fructose to glucose. These mathematical models...
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a general theoretical framework for the effect of multicomponent mixtures on biological systems when the components of these mixtures produce similar types of effects such as cardiac stimulation, sweet taste or a particular odor quality. These systems are assumed to involve receptor and, possibly, transducer...
Abstract: Aqueous nonionic (o.3% w/v) and ionic (0.1% and 0.3% w/v) gun systems containing NaCl, or equal weights of NaCl plus KCl, or NaCl plus CaCl2 were examined. At equivalent molar concentrations of added ions, 23Na NMR transverse relaxation rates (R27 sec-1) showed an increase in average Na- mobility with the addition of K-...
Abstract: New and old models in analytical pharmacology may be useful in the study of chemosensory phenomena. The mechanism by which sweet-tasting molecules exert their effect on taste neurons is similar to the mechanism by which beta-adrenergic agonists affect cardiac stimulation. A brief account of historical contributions to the development of pharmacokinetic models is...
Abstract: Agonists in mixtures may bind to a common receptor or to independent receptors. Signal generation may also depend on a transducer, such as a G protein. Interactions among agonists, receptors and transducers lead to changes in the activity of effectors, such as adenylyl cyclase, resulting in signals which affect behavior. In this paper,...
Abstract: Perceptions resulting from the simulation of the chemical senses presumably begin with molecular interactions between chemicals and some form of transduction mechanism. This mechanism may involve receptors and specific transducer proteins, such as G proteins. Many mechanisms can be proposed to describe the initial and later events in the chain from chemosensory stimulation...
Abstract: Assuming that two substances (e.g. tastants or odorants) share a common type of receptor, a binary mixture model is derived from the equations for the equilibrium constants for the separate and combined reactions of the substances and the hypothesized receptors). It is assumed that a multimolecular interaction between stimulant molecules and a receptor...
Abstract: Differences between the odor percepts of 10 1,3-dialkylbenzenes and 10 2,6-dialkylpyridines are based mainly on two perceptual dimensions. The overall perceptual similarity of the identically substituted benzene/pyridine pairs seems to depend on accessibility to the pyridine nitrogen atom and steric hindrance to the aromatic ring in a non-monotonic way. However, a linear relationship...