睾丸味觉受体细胞及其苦味感知

Testicular Taste Receptor Cells and Their Bitter Taste Perception

味觉是人和其他哺乳动物最基本的生理感觉之一,通过味觉来识别食物的性质,可避免有毒有害物质的摄入。越来越多的研究表明味觉受体不仅存在于味蕾细胞中,同样存在于睾丸和成熟精子中。近年来,研究者以分子和蛋白水平,从舌到睾丸味觉的相关功能研究取得了突破性成果,如雄性生殖细胞可利用苦味受体来感知影响精子行为和受精的化学物质。主要介绍味觉受体家族和信号分子,睾丸味觉受体的分布及其信号转导,以及苦味受体介导的睾丸苦味感知等研究进展。以期对精子发生过程的化学感知机制引起关注,同时为研究精卵相互作用的调控机理,以及睾丸的生殖毒理方向研究提供新的突破口。

Taste is one of the most basic physiological senses in humans and other mammals,which could identify the nature of food through taste and avoid the intake of toxic and harmful substances.More and more studies had shown that taste receptors existed not only in taste bud cells,but also in testes and mature sperm.In recent years,researchers made breakthroughs in the study of taste-related functions at the molecular and protein levels,from the tongue to the testes.For example,male germ cells could use bitter taste receptors to sense chemicals that affected sperm behavior and fertilization.Therefore,it mainly introduced the taste receptor family and signaling molecules,the distribution of testicular taste receptors and their signal transduction,and the research progress of testicular bitter taste perception mediated by bitter taste receptors.In order to attract attention to the chemosensory mechanism of spermatogenesis,it would also provide a new breakthrough for the study of the regulation mechanism of sperm-egg interaction and the reproductive toxicology of testis.