- Taste is sensed by taste receptor cells present in taste bud.
- Dogs have about 1700 taste buds, comparatively higher than cat.
- For different flavor, taste buds are distributed in different areas of tongue.
- There are 5 basic tastes
- Sweet
- Salty
- Meat
- Bitter
- Sour
Sweet and salty are detected through ion channels and Meat, Bitter, Sour are detected through G-protein coupled taste receptor.
Sites:
Sweet: front (tip) of tongue
Bitter: back
Sour and salty: on lateral sides of tongue
Umami/ meat: most taste buds can detect. Specifically present on rostral 2-3rd of dorsal surface