# Neural mechanisms underlying integration of taste and smell

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE · 2022 · $328,252

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY ABSTRACT
 Although interactions between the senses of smell and taste are a key factor for guiding food choices, the
neural mechanisms underlying the multisensory integration of odors and tastes remain largely unknown. A more
thorough understanding of these neurobiological processes will provide better insight into diseases characterized
by unhealthy food choices, such as obesity or diabetes. Eating food simultaneously activates the olfactory and
gustatory systems to generate enduring odor-taste associations. The primary cortical area for taste, gustatory
cortex (GC), is a principal site of convergent gustatory and olfactory information. Recent work from our lab
determined that functionally distinct populations of neurons in GC represent different properties of individual
unpaired odors or tastes. However, how neurons in GC represent odor-taste mixtures, as well as the neural
mechanisms that underlie integration and processing of smell and taste remain unclear. Recent behavioral and
physiological studies show that cortico-cortical interactions between sensory cortices are fundamental to
multisensory integration, suggesting that projections from the functionally distinct anterior (aPC) and posterior
(pPC) regions of piriform cortex (i.e., olfactory cortex) modulate multimodal chemosensory processing in GC.
Using rats as a model system, this proposal will combine behaving electrophysiology and optogenetic techniques
to investigate how the circuit between neurons in GC and the functionally distinct regions of piriform cortex
mediates multisensory integration of odors and tastes. The Specific Aims will test the following hypotheses: Aim
1: Different populations of neurons in GC encode the chemical identity and hedonic value of odor-taste mixtures.
Aim 2: Neurons in GC that respond to both odors and tastes receive aPC input representing the chemical identity
of odor-taste mixtures. Aim 3: Neurons in GC that respond to both odors and tastes receive pPC input
representing the hedonic value of odors and odor-taste mixtures. The results of each Specific Aim will contribute
fundamental knowledge about the cortico-cortical circuitry underlying the integration of smell and taste and
provide a necessary prelude for investigating the role that these cortico-cortical circuits play in guiding food
choices.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10434080
- **Project number:** 5R01DC018273-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE
- **Principal Investigator:** CHAD L SAMUELSEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $328,252
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-07-02 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10434080

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10434080, Neural mechanisms underlying integration of taste and smell (5R01DC018273-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10434080. Licensed CC0.

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