Affiliations: Laboratory of Nutrition, Division of Life Science,
Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 981-8555,
Japan | Ishinomaki-Senshu University, Ishinomaki 986-0031,
Japan
Note: [] Laboratory of Nutrition, Division of Life Science, Graduate
School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 981-8555, Japan.
Tel.: +81 22 717 8811; Fax: +81 22 717 8813; E-mail: mkomai@biochem.tohoku.ac.jp
Abstract: The present study was designed to clarify the effect of zinc
deficiency on sodium chloride preference, the lingual trigeminal and taste
nerves transduction, and carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity of the tongue surface
and salivary gland. Male SD rats, 4 weeks old, were divided into four groups,
and fed zinc-deficient (Zn-Def), low-zinc (Low-Zn), and zinc-sufficient diets
with free access (Zn-Suf) and pair-feeding (Pair-fed). After taking part in the
preference tests for 42 days, the rats were provided for the chorda tympani and
lingual trigeminal nerves recordings, then finally sacrificed and the tongue
and submandibular gland excised to measure CA activity. Sodium chloride preference increased only after 4 days of the
feeding of zinc-deficient and low-zinc diets, which means that the taste
abnormality appears abruptly in zinc deficieny and even though in marginal zinc
deficiency. Reduced CA activities of the taste-related tissues in
zinc-deficient group paralleled well with the decreased taste and lingual
trigeminal nerves sensitivities.
Keywords: zinc deficiency, carbonic anhydrase, taste dysfunction, rat
Journal: BioFactors, vol. 12, no. 1-4, pp. 65-70, 2000
