Introduction Basic biology of mucus Production and composition The state of mucus on fish surfaces Biophysical properties of fish mucus Experimental approaches Osmotic, ionic and acid-base regulation, gas exchange and excretion Unstirred layers Water Ions Respiratory gases, acid-base balance and ammonia excretion Defence Locomotion Filter feeding, adhesion and abhesion Conclusions References page 401 402

Functions for fish mucus

A novel G protein α-subunit (α-gustducin) has been identified and cloned from taste tissue, α-Gustducin messenger RNA is expressed in taste buds of all taste papillae (circumvallate, foliate and fungiform); it is not expressed in non-sensory portions of the tongue, nor is it expressed in the other tissues examined, α-Gustducin most closely resembles the transducins (the rod and cone photoreceptor G proteins), suggesting that gustducin's role in taste transduction is analogous to that of transducin in light transduction.

Gustducin is a taste-cell-specific G protein closely related to the transducins

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the alimentary canal and digestion in teleosts. It recognizes several types of teleosts on the basis of the different foods taken by them and their feeding habits: plankton feeders, herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, and specialists. The various degrees of specialization in feeding habits lead to the distinction of europhags, stenophags and monophags. Many cell types of the teleost digestive tract have been examined electron-microscopically, such as oral epithelial cells, chloride cells, scattered chemosensory cells, the cells of taste buds, intestinal goblet cells, and epithelium cells. Histo- and cyto-chemical techniques have been used in the study of the teleostean alimentary canal. Because the inner lining of this canal is mucified, emphasis is given to the mucus-secreting cells, which appear to contain either neutral or acidic mucopolysaccharides. In many teleosts, alkaline phosphatase and acid phosphatase activity has been detected in the brush-border of intestinal and cecal epithelia. Feeding rates have been measured by observing food intake under laboratory conditions with restricted or excess rations. The chapter discusses three methods by which the digestion rate in fish is estimated––namely, (1) by measuring the time interval between food intake and defecation, (2) by measuring the stomach contents at various time intervals after feeding, and (3) by using X-rays for observing the progress of digestion with time.

The Alimentary Canal and Digestion in Teleosts

https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1118&context=kine_fac

Early Influences on the Development of Food Preferences

Burning mouth syndrome is a common disorder that frequently affects women in the 5th-7th decade. It is characterized by persisting painful symptoms mainly involving the anterior two-thirds of the tongue. For several years it has been attributed to psychological causes. We investigated the innervation of the epithelium of the tongue to assess whether damage of peripheral nerve fibers underlies the pathogenesis of the disease. We examined 12 patients with clinically definite burning mouth syndrome for at least 6 months. We obtained superficial biopsies of the lateral aspect of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue from all patients and nine healthy controls. Immunohistochemical and confocal microscope co-localization studies were performed with cytoplasmatic, cytoskeletric, Schwann cell, and myelin markers for pathological changes. The density of epithelial nerve fibers was quantified. Patients showed a significantly lower density of epithelial nerve fibers than controls, with a trend toward correlation with the duration of symptoms. Epithelial and sub-papillary nerve fibers showed diffuse morphological changes reflecting axonal degeneration. Our study demonstrates that burning mouth syndrome is caused by a trigeminal small-fiber sensory neuropathy and that superficial biopsy of the tongue can be helpful in assessing the diagnosis. These findings shed light into the pathogenesis of this common disorder and could contribute to evaluate targeted therapies in patients.

Trigeminal small-fiber sensory neuropathy causes burning mouth syndrome.

Taste buds are chemosensory endorgans consisting of modified epithelial cells. Fish and other vertebrates use their taste bud cells to sample potential food, either selecting or rejecting substances according to their edibility. The adult gustatory system in fish has been studied thoroughly, including regeneration experiments. Taste buds occur in the epithelia of the lips, the mouth cavity, the oropharyngeal cavity, and also in the skin of the barbels, the head, and sometimes even all over the body surface. Despite its importance for feeding, little is known about the ontogeny of the fish taste system. We examined the development of taste buds in the zebrafish on the light microscopical and the scanning and transmission electron microscopical levels. Taste buds develop later than the olfactory organ and the solitary chemosensory cells, two other chemosensory systems in aquatic vertebrates. The first few taste bud primordia are visible within the epithelia of lips and gill arches 3 to 4 days after fertilization, and the first few taste buds with open receptor areas appear on the lips and simultaneously on the gill arches 4-5 days after fertilization, which coincides with the onset of feeding. Taste buds in the mouth cavity, on the head, and on the barbels are formed later in development. As seen in other fish, zebrafish taste buds contain elongate dark and light cells, termed according to their electron density. Dark cells with a cell apex of many short microvilli appear first, followed by the light cells with one large microvillus. In addition, the zebrafish has a third fusiform cell type, which appears last. This cell type is low in electron density and has a brush-like apical ending with several small microvilli. This cell type has not been described previously. Furthermore, in zebrafish, the ontogenetic processes of taste bud formation differ from regenerative processes described in the literature.

https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/dvdy.10074

Taste bud development in the zebrafish, Danio rerio

Within the epithelium of the head gut of the sword-tail (Xiphophorus helleri Heckel) there are three types of taste buds that can be identified with certainty in the scanning electron microscope. The breathing valves, which are situated behind the mouth region, bear relatively high epidermal papillae in which type I taste buds can be found. The middle region of the head gut is mostly occupied by low epidermal papillae containing type II taste buds. Type III taste buds are present within the metabranchial head gut; they never rise above the normal level of the epithelium. Taste buds of each type show two kinds of receptor villi within their receptor areas: tall villi (about 1,5×0,5 μm) and small villi (about 0.5×0.2 μm). A few tall villi belonging to solitary chemosensory cells are situated between the superficial epithelial cells of the tongue. In addition, the surface of the epidermal cells shows a delicate microridge system.—It is postulated that the taste buds of different types serve different functions: Taste buds within epidermal papillae may act both as chemoreceptors, and mechanoreceptors. Taste buds that never rise above the normal level of the epithelium perhaps act predominantly as chemoreceptors.

Taste bud types in fishes. II. Scanning electron microscopical investigations on Xiphophorus helleri Heckel (Poeciliidae, Cyprinodontiformes, Teleostei).

Die auf den Barteln von Amiurus nebulosus liegenden Geschmacksknospen wurden morphologisch und histochemisch untersucht.

Die Geschmacksknospen des Zwergwelses Amiurus nebulosus (Lesueur)

Background
Taste buds are assemblies of slender epithelial cells that receive chemical stimuli from the outer (oral) environment. In contrast to the large and well documented information on the morphology of taste buds in adult humans and animals, there are only a few reports on fetal ones, and ultrastructural studies of prenatal human taste buds are lacking completely. Therefore, the present investigation has been carried out to study the taste bud primordium, its morphological changes including synaptogenesis, cell differentiation, and taste pore formation from the time of the onset of taste bud formation around the 8th week until the 15th postovulatory week.

Methods
Taste bud primordia of 42 human embryonic/fetal tongues have been examined by means of transmission electron microscopy.

Results
Nerve fibers approach the lingual epithelium between the 6th and 7th postovulatory week. They penetrate the basal lamina during the 8th week and form synapses with poorly differentiated, elongated, epithelial cells. By the 12th week, more differentiated cell types are seen: 1) electron-dense cells resembling type III cells of the adult taste bud containing large numbers of dense-cored vesicles (80–150 nm in diameter); 2) electron-dark cells with well developed endoplasmic reticulum and many apical mitochondria, being candidates for type II cells. Basally, these cells have foot-like processes containing dense-cored vesicles (120–200 nm in diameter), but they do not synapse to nerve fibers. Type I cells, characterized by apically located dense secretory granules, are not observed. First shallow grooves above the taste bud primordium are found around the 10th week. Untypically differentiated apical cellular processes extend onto the surface. Most of the taste pores develop around the 14th to 15th week. In the taste pit, mucous material is not present during the first 15 weeks of gestation. Synapses between cells and afferent nerve fibers were found by the 8th week, reaching a maximum around the 12th to 13th week.

Conclusions
The early presence of taste bud cells containing dense-cored vesicles suggests an at least dual function of embryonic/ fetal taste buds: First, from the 8th until the 14th week, non-gustatory, paracrine functions should be considered. After the 14th week of gestation, when typical taste pores are present, the taste buds possibly start their gustatory function. Differentiated marginal cells are possibly involved in the formation of the taste pore. The lack of type I cells producing the mucous material in the taste pit indicates that the taste bud has not achieved a fully developed function until the 15th week of gestation. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Embryonic and early fetal development of human taste buds: a transmission electron microscopical study.

This study describes the ultrastructure of the taste buds of the sighted river fish Astyanax mexicanus and of the blind cave fish Astyanax jordani (= Anoptichthys) (Teleostei, Characiformes, Characidae). In Astyanax and Anoptichthys, taste buds occur in the epithelia of the lips, oral cavity, and, in Anoptichthys, lower jaw. Both possess three types of taste buds: type I (elevated), type II (slightly elevated), and type III taste buds (not elevated or sunken). The taste buds are up to 60 microm high and up to 35 microm wide. The taste bud's sensory epithelium consists of 100--130 elongated cells: light cells, dense-cored-vesicles (dcv) -cells, dark cells, and degenerating cells. The dcv-cells are rich in dense-cored vesicles and are described for the first time in a teleostean taste bud. At the taste bud's base, there lie two to three basal cells. The basal cells of type I and type II taste buds have microvillus (spine)-like processes, in contrast to those of type III taste buds. The taste bud's nerve fiber plexus is situated between the bases of the elongated taste bud cells and the basal cells. Afferent synapses occur between dcv-cells and basal cells (presynaptic sides) and axons (postsynaptic side). Indistinct synapses occur between light cells and dark cells (presynaptic sides) and axons (postsynaptic side). The nerve fiber plexes of Anoptichthys type II and type III taste buds contain significantly more axon profiles than those of Astyanax. This may be associated with a compensatory improvement of the sense of taste in the blind, cave-dwelling fish.

Ultrastructure of the taste buds in the blind cave fish Astyanax jordani ("Anoptichthys") and the sighted river fish Astyanax mexicanus (Teleostei, Characidae).

Klaus Reutter

Papers

Taste bud development in the zebrafish, Danio rerio

Taste bud types in fishes. II. Scanning electron microscopical investigations on Xiphophorus helleri Heckel (Poeciliidae, Cyprinodontiformes, Teleostei).

Die Geschmacksknospen des Zwergwelses Amiurus nebulosus (Lesueur)

Embryonic and early fetal development of human taste buds: a transmission electron microscopical study.

Ultrastructure of the taste buds in the blind cave fish Astyanax jordani ("Anoptichthys") and the sighted river fish Astyanax mexicanus (Teleostei, Characidae).