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| Tongue - Structure |
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| Tongue is a muscular structure that has the organs of taste reception. The organs for sense of taste are the taste buds. |
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| Taste buds are structures located on the surface of the tongue. They are embedded in the mucosa of the papillae of the tongue. The papillae are projections on the upper surface of the tongue. |
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| Each papillae may contain from few to a hundred taste buds and the surface of the tongue may have up to 10,000 taste buds. |
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| Each taste bud is a bulbous sac-like structure having a small pore-like opening on the surface of the tongue - Taste pore. |
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| The bulbous portion of the taste bud consists of two types of cells |
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| Taste receptor cells or gustatory receptors |
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| They are spindle-shaped cells that are neurosensory. They have hairs on their free ends and on the other end, they have nerve fibres. They number 5-15 in each taste bud. |
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| Supporting cells |
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| They are columnar cells, numbering about 40 found between the taste receptor cells, supporting them. |
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| The tongue is sensitive to and can perceive four different types of tastes - sweet, sour, salty and bitter. The four different tastes are perceived by four different sets of taste buds that are situated at specific locations on the tongue. |
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| Salty taste is perceived by the taste buds that are located on the tip and sides of the tongue, sweet tasting buds are present only on the tip, sour tasting buds are present on the lateral sides of the tongue and the taste buds for bitter taste are present at the back of the tongue. However, the structures of all the taste buds are identical. All these tastes are combinations of these four, modified by accompanying olfactory sensations. |
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