# Salivary Protein Influence on Taste and Feeding

> **NIH NIH R01** · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO · 2020 · $343,355

## Abstract

Project Summary
Taste perception plays a key role in diet selection. Although bitter compounds are often associated with toxic
substances, a large number of nutritionally significant food sources contain bitter phytochemicals (e.g.,
broccoli, spinach). Understanding how bitter taste is perceived and detected is of great importance for
increasing the acceptability of pediatric medicines and may assist in efforts to promote healthy eating in
children and adults. Under normal feeding and drinking conditions, taste compounds mix with saliva before
reaching their receptor targets. Little is known about how the proteins in saliva interact with taste stimuli and
alter bitter taste perception. Salivary protein composition changes with exposure to bitter diets (the induction
phase) and in turn alters the behavior of animals consuming bitter diets by increasing the acceptability of their
taste (the increased acceptance phase). Although there is a strong link between bitter diets and salivary
protein (SP) expression, the physiological mechanisms underlying these linkages are unknown Specific Aim 1
will examine the induction phase by examining the role of taste in the upregulation of SPs. Specific
Aims 2 and 3 will examine the increased acceptance phase. We hypothesize that SPs will diminish taste-
mediated responses at two levels of organization: 1) immediate behavioral responses, as assessed by taste
reactivity tests; 2) calcium responses of isolated taste cells to chemical stimuli. Specific Aim 4 will examine
the role of SP profile in diet acceptance. We hypothesize that diets that induce similar patterns of
expression will increase acceptance of each other, while diets with different patterns will not. These
experiments will allow us to identify which proteins are important for the increased acceptance of bitter diets.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9831634
- **Project number:** 5R01DC016869-02
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
- **Principal Investigator:** Ann-Marie Torregrossa
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $343,355
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9831634

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9831634, Salivary Protein Influence on Taste and Feeding (5R01DC016869-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9831634. Licensed CC0.

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