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. 2014 Aug 15;12(1):12.
doi: 10.1186/1617-9625-12-12. eCollection 2014.

Lower expressions of the human bitter taste receptor TAS2R in smokers: reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis

Mieko Aoki  1 , Tetsuya Takao  2 , Kyoichi Takao  3 , Fumihiko Koike  4 , Narufumi Suganuma  5
Affiliations

Lower expressions of the human bitter taste receptor TAS2R in smokers: reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis

Mieko Aoki et al. Tob Induc Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Despite the fact that smokers have deficit in detecting taste, particularly bitter taste, no study has investigated its biological correlate.

Methods: In this context, we compared the expression of the bitter taste receptor gene, taste 2 receptor (TAS2R) in the tongues of smokers and non-smokers. Tissue samples were collected from the lateral portion of the tongues of 22 smokers and 22 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers (19 males and three females) with no history of smoking. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was used to examine the expression of TAS2R in the two groups, and the effect of aging on TAS2R expression was also assessed.

Results: TAS2R expression was significantly lower among smokers than non-smokers (t = 6.525, P < .0001, 11.36 ± 6.0 vs. 2.09 ± 2.8, mean ± SD, non-smokers vs. smokers). Further, a positive correlation between age and expression of TAS2R was observed in non-smokers (r = .642, P = .001), but not smokers (r = .124, P = .584). This correlation difference was significant (Z = 1.96, P = .0496).

Conclusions: Smokers showed a significantly lower expression of the bitter taste receptor gene than non-smokers, which is potentially caused by their inability to acquire such receptors with age because of cigarette smoking, in contrast to non-smokers.

Keywords: Cigarette; Human; RT-PCR; TAS2R.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Genomic DNA fragmentation by a homogenate. The genomic DNA isolated from the lower phase of the TRIzol Reagent treated specimen was observed only in 200 bp or less (indicated by “*”), suggesting that genetic DNAs were fragmented into small fraction during the process of homogenate and there is no genomic DNAs that are large enough to express TAS2R in the upper phase.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relation between number of expression of TAS2R and age and smoking behaviors. A significant positive correlation was observed between age and bitter taste receptor expression in non-smokers but not in smokers (a). There was no significant association between bitter taste receptor expression and duration of smoking (b), the number of cigarettes smoked daily (c), and the Brinkman index (d).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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