Nutrient Tasting and Signaling Mechanisms in the Gut IV. There is more to taste than meets the tongue

The tongue is the principal organ that provides sensory information about t he quality and quantity of chemicals in food. Other information about the t emperature and texture of food is also transduced on the tongue, via extrag emmal receptors that form branches of the trigeminal, glossopharyngeal, and vagal nerves. These systems, together with information from the gastrointe stinal (GI) system, interact to determine whether or not food is palatable. In this themes article, emphasis is placed on the integrative aspects of g ustatory processing by showing the convergence of gustatory information wit h somatosensory, nociceptive, and visceral information (from the GI system) on the tongue and in the brain. Our thesis is that gustation should be tho ught of as an integral part of a distributed, interacting multimodal system in which information from other systems, including the GI system, can modu late the taste of food.