Taste disorders and their causes
- Dashboard
- Taste disorders and their causes
Most Recent Score Report
| Questions Correct | Questions Answered | Time Spent | Status | Attempt Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Previous Score Reports
| Questions Correct | Questions Answered | Time Spent | Status | Attempt Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Taste disorders and their causes
Array
(
[passage] => WP_Post Object
(
[ID] => 559040
[post_author] => 12815
[post_date] => 2024-12-26 11:03:09
[post_date_gmt] => 2024-12-26 16:03:09
[post_content] => Practice Passage (Question 1-5)
*This passage is the property of Khan Academy and has been reformatted into an AAMC-style interface in their entirety by MedLife Mastery. MedLife Mastery does not endorse and is not an affiliate of Khan Academy.
Individuals heavily rely on their gustatory sense (taste) in everyday life. Taste is evolutionarily important in humans, since the ability to detect bitter compounds (which normally indicate a poisonous or toxic substance) is beneficial to survival, as is the ability to detect sweet compounds (indicating presence of sugar, an important source of energy). When a person’s sense of taste becomes impaired they are more likely to experience quality of life issues, and can also be more susceptible to serious issues related to dietary intake, like diabetes and heart disease. There are varying levels of taste impairment - hypogeusia, or partial loss of taste, is the reduced ability to detect sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or umami molecules. Ageusia is much more rare than hypogeusia, and is the total loss of taste detection. Dysgeusia is the distortion of flavors on the tongue, and can involve unpleasant or metallic taste. Taste disorders are usually caused by some type of injury or illness, but can sometimes be present at birth.
A researcher is interested in finding out more about taste disorders and their causes. He studies the patient records of 1500 adults who have been diagnosed with a taste disorder in the past two years, and is able to link the disorders to six broad causes. Table 1 outlines the percentage of taste disorders linked to each cause.
In a second study, the researcher examined the records of individuals who had parts of their tongue removed because of oral cancers, and attempted to quantify the loss of gustation compared to the amount of tongue removed. He found that the loss of taste correlated with the part of the tongue removed, more so than the amount of tongue removed. He concluded that his data supported previous work showing that taste receptors are preferentially localized in different parts of the tongue, mainly the anterior aspect of the tongue.
[post_title] => Taste disorders and their causes
[post_excerpt] =>
[post_status] => publish
[comment_status] => closed
[ping_status] => closed
[post_password] =>
[post_name] => taste-disorders-and-their-causes
[to_ping] =>
[pinged] =>
[post_modified] => 2024-12-26 11:03:09
[post_modified_gmt] => 2024-12-26 16:03:09
[post_content_filtered] =>
[post_parent] => 0
[guid] => https://medlifemastery.com/?post_type=passage&p=559040
[menu_order] => 0
[post_type] => passage
[post_mime_type] =>
[comment_count] => 0
[filter] => raw
)
[questions] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[quiz_unique_key] => 578908434
[question] => Individuals with hypogeusia have difficulty detecting umami tastes. Umami receptors are sensitive to which molecule?
[value] => Array
(
[answer] => 2
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Sweet receptors bind glucose.
Salty receptors bind NaCl.
Umami receptors bind glutamate.
)
[answers] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[each_answer] => A. NaCI
)
[1] => Array
(
[each_answer] => B. Glutamate
)
[2] => Array
(
[each_answer] => C. Glucose
)
[3] => Array
(
[each_answer] => D. Saccharin
)
)
)
[1] => Array
(
[quiz_unique_key] => 3873426850
[question] => What does the labeled lines model postulate?
[value] => Array
(
[answer] => 1
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
The labeled lines model predicts that particular taste receptors will send dedicated axonal projections to a particular part of the brain.
There is no mixing of axonal projections between taste receptors of various sorts (ex. sweet and salty).
The labeled lines model basically predicts that gustatory receptors sensitive to particular molecules will send dedicated axonal projections to particular parts of the brain without mixing with other receptors
)
[answers] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[each_answer] => A. That gustatory receptors sensitive to particular molecules are present in a particular cell that sends an axonal projection to a particular part of the brain.
)
[1] => Array
(
[each_answer] => B. That olfactory receptors sensitive to particular molecules are present in a particular cell that sends an axonal projection to a particular part of the brain.
)
[2] => Array
(
[each_answer] => C. That gustatory receptors sensitive to particular molecules are present in a particular cell that sends an axonal projection to a particular part of the tongue.
)
[3] => Array
(
[each_answer] => D. That pheromone receptors sensitive to particular molecules are present in a particular cell that sends an axonal projection to a particular part of the brain.
)
)
)
[2] => Array
(
[quiz_unique_key] => 83407773
[question] => In the second study described above, what would be the predicted effects of removing the entire anterior tongue compared to removing the entire posterior tongue?
[value] => Array
(
[answer] => 2
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
The various taste receptors (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami) are all localized in the same parts of the tongue (mostly in the anterior part).
The anterior part of the tongue contains the majority of gustatory receptors in the tongue.
If the anterior part of the tongue was surgically removed, an individual’s ability to taste would be more severely diminished than an individual without the posterior part of their tongue.
)
[answers] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[each_answer] => A. There would be no difference in the ability of either individual to taste food.
)
[1] => Array
(
[each_answer] => B. An individual’s gustatory sense would be more severely diminished if the anterior aspect of the tongue were removed.
)
[2] => Array
(
[each_answer] => C. The individual without the anterior part of the tongue would lose the ability to detect sweet foods, while the individual without the posterior part of the tongue wouldn’t be able to detect salty foods.
)
[3] => Array
(
[each_answer] => D. An individual’s gustatory sense would be more severely diminished if the posterior aspect of the tongue were removed.
)
)
)
[3] => Array
(
[quiz_unique_key] => 2261298308
[question] => If a sweet receptor was knocked-into a salty taste cell in a mouse model, what effect would glucose have on the mouse (assuming sweet taste cells were knocked out).
[value] => Array
(
[answer] => 2
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
The labeled lines model should be used to predict the behavioral effect.
The addition of a sweet receptor into a salty taste cell would result in activation of the salty taste cell upon addition of glucose.
This is essentially what the labeled lines model predicts – it’s not the particular receptor that results in the sensation of a particular taste, but rather the type of taste cell which is activated that results in the perception of a particular taste. In this case, since sugar receptors are placed into salty taste cells, the activation of the salty taste cell via the addition of glucose would result in the mouse perceiving the sugar as salty.
)
[answers] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[each_answer] => A. The mouse would perceive the sugar as bitter.
)
[1] => Array
(
[each_answer] => B. The mouse would perceive the sugar as salty.
)
[2] => Array
(
[each_answer] => C. The mouse wouldn’t perceive the sugar at all.
)
[3] => Array
(
[each_answer] => D. The mouse would perceive the sugar as sweet.
)
)
)
[4] => Array
(
[quiz_unique_key] => 2377279144
[question] => Which of the following psychiatric disorders is least likely to be associated with dysgeusia?
[value] => Array
(
[answer] => 3
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
Depression is often associated with lack of appetite and changes in food preferences or food enjoyment, which could be caused by dysgeusia.
Anxiety disorders are associated with dry mouth and sometimes with a metallic taste in the mouth, similar to dysgeusia.
Patients with schizophrenia can develop gustatory hallucinations, similar to dysgeusia.
Binge eating disorder is least likely to be associated with dysgeusia, as it involves compulsive overeating. Dysgeusia would probably make food aversive, which would decrease likelihood of binge eating.
)
[answers] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[each_answer] => A. Anxiety
)
[1] => Array
(
[each_answer] => B. Schizophrenia
)
[2] => Array
(
[each_answer] => C. Binge eating disorder
)
[3] => Array
(
[each_answer] => D. Depression
)
)
)
)
[total_question] => 5
[correct_answers] => Array
(
[559040|1] => B
[559040|2] => A
[559040|3] => B
[559040|4] => B
[559040|5] => C
)
[hide_display_feedback_settings] =>
[hide_solutions] =>
)
