Met-Enkephalin-Arg6-Gly7-Leu8-Like Immunoreactivity in Mammalian Taste Buds
1993 Volume 56 Issue 5 Pages 495-500
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1993 Volume 56 Issue 5 Pages 495-500
Light-microscopic immunocytochemistry for various bioactive peptides including some gastroenteropancreatic hormones and a neuronal enzyme, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), was applied to taste buds in the circumvallate papillae of rats, mice and guinea pigs. In all the species positive immunoreactivities were demonstrated for Met-enkephalin-Arg6-Gly7-Leu8 (Met-Enk-8). The Met-Enk-8-like immunoreactivity was confined to parts of the spindle-shaped bud cells. These cells in rats and guinea pigs displayed a concomitant immunoreactivity for NSE. In the mouse taste buds, however, there appeared no such correlation between the immunoreactivities.
Considering our previous data, the present finding supports a possibility that opioid peptide (s) derived from preproenkephalin A might be the transmitter (s) of the gustatory cell.
