Page 141 - The Miracles of Smell and Taste
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mal, then one’s sense of taste will decline, and even disappear. But if the
number is greater than normal, then familiar flavors will seem excessive-
ly sweet or bitter. Clearly, each cell needs to be present in exactly the right
number, or eating and drinking would be unpleasant, even uncomforta-
ble.
As you know, the smaller an electronic device, the more successful its
design is considered to be. That’s why engineers try to the greatest possi-
ble use of a small space. Looking at the organization in the taste buds, ex-
amples of this design principle are immediately apparent. Some 100 taste
cells are set out in the taste bud in an ideal manner (Figure 26-27). In ad-
dition, the buds also contain a number of basal cells and secretion cells,
the taste cells’ production center. When we examine the structures in the
papillae, we encounter a similar situation. (Figure 28-29) In the cleft
around the papilla, the taste cells arranged along the edges of the papillae
Taste bud
Epithelium
Taste
micro-hairs
Taste cell
Taste cell
fibers
Connective
tissue
(Figure 26) The organization in a taste bud.
Harun Yahya
(Adnan Oktar)
