Expression of α-gustducin in the circumvallate papillae of taste buds of diabetic rats

Taste impairment is a complication of Diabetes mellitus and some studies have shown this taste disorder in diabetes. Diabetes can decrease the ability of individuals to detect and recognize sweet, salty and bitter tastes. α-Gustducin is a transducin-like G-protein selectively expressed in 20 - 30% of taste receptor cells, which has been shown to be involved in bitter, sweet and umami taste responses. The present study was performed to explore the protein and mRNA expression of α-gustducin in the taste buds of diabetic and control rat circumvallate papillae. Our results showed that the positive expression of α-gustducin in diabetic rat taste bud cells is higher than that in normal controls as shown by both immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. There may be some variant of bitter, sweet or umami taste transduction during diabetes and that taste transduction variant may be one cause of diabetic taste impairment.