Page 149 - The Miracles of Smell and Taste

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These microvilli, or micro-hairs emerge into the mucus membrane coating
the tongue through tiny apertures known as taste pores. Taste-cell recep-
tors are located on the micro-hairs. The average diameter of a taste pore is
four-thousandths of a millimeter, or 0.000157 of an inch. 132

Taste compounds are also communication molecules, transmitting
the messages they carry to the ion channels or receptors on the cell mem-
brane. The events taking place at this stage at the cellular and molecular
level are, as stated by Professor Stephen Roper of Miami University, still
the subject of investigation. 133 There are many different methods of com-
munication, corresponding to many different taste compounds. In other
words, different communication networks are established for different
tastes such as sweet, bitter and salty. Taste cells have more than one way
of communicating, and only the general lines of some of them are under-
stood as yet.
Another surprising factor is the significant differences in taste per-
ception mechanisms between species. 134 These phenomena call for long
reflection: Naturally, molecules
and cells devoid of conscious-

ness cannot by themselves de-
velop wholly different means
of communication; these
communication systems are
signs of the omniscience of

Taste cells have more than
one mode of communica-
tion. Thanks to this feature
of the cells, we are able to
detect such different tastes
as sweet, bitter, sour and
salty.