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The West Indian manatee tongue was examined macroscopically, light microscopically, and electron microscopically (scanning and transmission). The tongue was slender, muscular, and firmly fixed in the oral cavity. Only the cranial tip was free and mobile. Numerous filiform papillae were distributed over the dorsal surface of the rostral lingual region. Caudal to the filiform papillae, multiple raised, round papillae were distributed over the majority of the dorsum. Fungiform papillae were restricted to the lateral margins of the tongue. Caudally, the dorsal and lateral regions showed numerous open fossae and pits. Microscopic examination showed the majority of the lingual dorsum to be covered with a thick stratified squamous epithelium. The caudal dorsal and lateral open pits led to well-developed mucous salivary glands. Foliate papillae, located on the caudal region of the tongue, contained taste buds embedded in the epidermis. Glands within the foliate papillae were mostly mucous, though some seromucous glands were evident. Throughout the tongue, striated muscle was abundant below the epidermis. Blood vessels, lymph channels, and nerve fibers were freely distributed throughout the intermuscular stroma. Nerve fibers reacted positively with neuron specific enolase antibody throughout the lingual structure, including nerve bundles, muscle bundles, glands, and taste buds. Electron microscopy revealed cytoplasmic vacuoles juxtaposed to the nucleus in the stratum spinosum of the foliate papillary region. / Master of Science

Rats received access to high or low saccharin concentrations or to distilled water or 2% saline prior to testing for conditioned taste aversion or neophobia. Pre-exposure to high saccharin concentration attenuated neophobia and taste aversion to high and low concentrations. Pre-exposure to the low concentration attenuated neophobia to both concentrations but attenuated taste aversion only to the low concentration. Saline and distilled water pre-exposure did not attenuate neophobia or taste aversion to either concentration. / Master of Science

Rat pups (Rattus Norvegicus) were exposed to saccharin through suckling dams whose drinking water had been adulterated during lactation. Behavioral evidence is reported that the saccharin penetrated the milk and was detectable by the pups. Preexposure to saccharin did not influence the effects of taste aversion training conducted with a saccharin CS when the pups were 18 days old. Taste aversion learning was weaker in the pups than in adults run in the same study. No effect was found for CS concentration on taste aversion learning for the pups or the adults. / M. S.

The relationship between initial intracellular pH (pHi) and associated cell volume change was investigated by simultaneous measurement of pHi and cell volume with fluorescence imaging in polarized fungiform taste receptor cells (TRCs) loaded with BCECF in vitro. Ammonium pulses caused a brief, reversible alkalinization in pHi and induced cell swelling. Sodium-acetate pulses reversible decreased TRC pHi and induced cell shrinkage. Removal weak acids and return to Control Ringer's solution (CR) causedTRC pHi and volume to overshoot baseline levels before fully recovering. Replacing CR with zero-sodium solution resulted in irreversible acidification of TRC pHi and induced cell swelling. Addition of sodium allowed reversal of TRC pHi and volume and return to baseline levels. Treating TRCs with cytoskeleton inhibitors, phalloidin and cytochalasin, before acidic stimulation did not affect TRC pHi, but did result in an altered TRC volume change. I conclude that a decrease in TRC pHi induces cell shrinkage via the actin cytoskeleton. Cell shrinkage as a result of a change in pHi activates NHE1 to restore TRC pHi and volume.

Characterizing the cortical representation of sweet and bitter tastes in awake behaving mice has been challenging due to the sheltered location of the gustatory cortex in the insula, which restricts optical and electrophysiological recordings, and the various functions of the insula, complicating conclusions about taste representation. To overcome these obstacles, we developed a brain-wide imaging paradigm that combines functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with optogenetic and taste receptor knock-out manipulations in mice. This approach allowed us the study the gustatopic map in awake, behaving mice, showing that sweet and bitter tastes are topographically segregated along the rostro-caudal axis of the gustatory cortex, with sweet represented rostrally and bitter caudally. Notably, this map is subject to plasticity following conditioned taste aversion (CTA) for sweet stimuli, resulting in a posterior shift of the sweet taste field—a phenomenon reversible after CTA extinction.

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This thesis focuses on the development of sociability within digitality, through an examination of three primary relationships: people and music, people and the Web 2.0 and people and each other. Mobile digital devices, such as the iPod, represent the convergence of musical taste and the internet. Both are inherently social, and, while critics have accused mobile digital devices as being socially isolating, the youth in this study have demonstrated an environment in which this technology is used as a means of communication. For these digital youth, such technologies are seen as a gateway to communication and the sharing of experiences. Having grown up fully immersed in digitality, these youth are negotiating new relationships with technology and each other, through the perceived invisibility of the technology. An important aspect of this research is the formation of identity and taste in digitality. Music is an integral facet of identity, a means to relate to others and form judgments on those we meet – but how is this affected by digitality? The internet encourages a loss of genre distinction, and a culture of eclecticism, whereby people can listen to a multitude of genres, often without knowing what exactly they are listening to, and without aligning their identities with specific genres or subgenres. Based on empirical data, it is demonstrated that this fragmentation of taste matches an intensified fragmentation of identity through social networking sites.