How Does Taste Work - How Do Taste Buds Work - Structure Of The Tongue - Structure Of Taste Buds

In this video I discuss how does taste work in the body. I also look at what are taste buds, and how do taste buds work. I discuss the functions of the tongue, and what is flavor, and how we sense flavors, as well as the structure of the tongue and taste buds.




So, how does taste work? Well, let’s start by looking at the tongue. On the surface of the tongue are wart-like bumps that are called papillae. There are 4 types of papillae, fungiform, Circumvallate, Foliate, and Filiform. Filiform papillae are the most numerous papillae, but they do not contain any taste buds.

Taste buds are located in the walls and grooves of these papillae, and most adults have between 2000 and 4000 buds in total. They consist mainly of a taste pore, sensory cells, taste hairs and nerve fibers.

So, a flavor enters the taste pore, the sensory cells analyze the flavor and send the information to the nerve fibers. The nerve fibers send the data to the brain, and wha-la, we know the flavor that we are tasting.

There are 5 main flavors, sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory. All of these flavors can be sensed by all parts of the tongue, however, the sides of the tongue are more sensitive than the middle.

And the back of the tongue is especially sensitive to bitter tastes. It is believed that this is a protection mechanism, against poisonous and spoiled foods before they are swallowed.

And that is the basics on how taste works. Another amazing way the body works.

Timestamps
0:00 Structure of the tongue
0:19 Structure of taste buds
0:33 How taste buds work
0:45 The 5 main flavors