An Expression Levels Analysis of the Bitter Taste Receptors in the Murine Exocrine Glands

Recent findings indicate that Type 2 taste receptors (T2Rs) are expressed outside the gustatory system, including in the gastrointestinal tracts and the exocrine glands, such as the submandibular (SM), parotid (P), lacrimal (L) glands and pancreas (PC). Specifically, T2Rs are found in some of the gastrointestinal endocrine cells, and these cells secreted peptide hormones in response to stimulation by bitter-tasting compounds. The results show that T2Rs may have significant physiological roles besides bitter taste reception. The functions of the T2Rs in the exocrine glands remain poorly understood. An expression levels analysis of T2Rs will help to determine those functions in the exocrine glands. The expression levels of the T2Rs in the exocrine glands were discovered via the qPCR. C57BL/6J mice of 42~60-day-old were used. Messenger RNAs were extracted from S, P, L and PC. Cloned DNAs were synthesized by reverse transcription. Quantitative PCRs were performed using the SYBR Green method. The expression levels of the T2Rs were calculated as relative expression levels to that of the GAPDH. The statistical significance among the observed exocrine glands was tested using the variance analysis (ANOVA test). Tas2r108, out of murine 35 T2Rs, was the most highly expressed in every observed exocrine gland. This finding was similar to previous results from tongue papillae, but the expression levels were lower than those of the tongue papillae. Tas2r137 of SM, P, L and PC were expressed a little lower than that of tongue papillae. The T2Rs in the exocrine glands may play slightly different roles from those in the tongue. We suggest that physiological studies such as a patch clamp and functional Ca²⁺ imaging of acinar cells are necessary for understanding the Tas2r108 functions.

Evolution of Rodent Pheromones: A Review of the ABPs with Comparison to the ESPs and the MUPs.

Three proteinaceous pheromone families, the androgen-binding proteins (ABPs), the exocrine-gland secreting peptides (ESPs) and the major urinary proteins (MUPs) are encoded by large gene families in the Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus genomes. The purpose of this article is to review what is known about the evolutionary histories of the the Abp gene family expansions in rodents and, where appropriate, to compare them to what is known of the expansions of the Mup and Esp gene families. The issues important to these histories are the extent of the gene family expansions, the timing of their expansions and the roles played by selection, gene conversion and non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR). I also compare and contrast the evolutionary histories of all three mouse gene families in light of the proposed functions of their pheromones in mouse communication.

The clinical features of extra-exocrine glands of primary Sjgren syndrome in elderly patients / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective To study the clinical features of the extra exocrine gland symptoms of primary Sjgren syndrome(PSS) in elderly people. Methods Clinical data of 106 cases of elderly and 120 cases of non elderly PSS were collected and analyzed. Results A total of 203 cases(89 8%, 203/226) manifested symptoms of extra exocrine glands, in which elderly and non elderly groups accounted for 106(100 0%) and 97(80 8%), respectively. The occurrence rates of arrhythma due to hypokalemia, peripheral neuritis(P0 05). Conclusions The common symptoms of PSS in patients, especially the elderly patients, are extra exocrine gland manifestations as the main complaints though the PSS is a systemic disease. These must be differenciated in order to avoid misdiagnosis.