Sensory Physiology

2.10. The tongue as a sensory organ

Scattered over the tongue, but mostly clustered along the edge of the tongue, are taste buds. Each taste bud is a cluster of 50-150 sensory receptor cells. Each sensory cell has receptors only for a specific kind of taste, the so-called tastant: sour, sweet, bitter, salty or umami. The molecules of food that carry the taste are dissolved in the saliva and carried to the taste pore, which is the area, where the taste bud opens into the tongue suface. From there, the tastant is received by the receptor cell and the sensation is then carried via nerves to the brain, where it is translated into information.