人們每天都在消耗能量,，每天需要不停的吃飯來(lái)補(bǔ)充能量,，飯吃下去變成能量卻需要鹽將一部分調(diào)用上來(lái),，這就是我們必須吃鹽的原因，鹽味咸,，中醫(yī)講咸能入腎,，能將腎氣調(diào)起來(lái)維持我們正常的活動(dòng)和功能。
哺乳動(dòng)物不喜歡高濃度的鹽,，但卻被低濃度的鈉所吸引,。對(duì)小鼠來(lái)說(shuō)，后一種行為能被離子通道抑制藥物“氨氯吡脒”阻斷?，F(xiàn)在,，通過(guò)基因工程方法使其味覺(jué)受體神經(jīng)元中失去該藥物的目標(biāo)鈉離子通道“ENaC”的小鼠，被發(fā)現(xiàn)既不能感受鹽,，也沒(méi)有對(duì)鈉味道的反應(yīng),。所以，對(duì)鈉的感受,，就像其他四個(gè)味覺(jué)形態(tài)（甜味,、酸味,、苦味和鮮味）一樣,，是由專門的味覺(jué)受體細(xì)胞調(diào)控的。不過(guò),，因?yàn)殁c的感受在靈長(zhǎng)類中對(duì)“氨氯吡脒”是不敏感的,，所以這一發(fā)現(xiàn)與我們感覺(jué)咸味（鹽）的能力有什么關(guān)系仍不清楚。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Nature 464, 297-301 (11 March 2010) | doi:10.1038/nature08783
The cells and peripheral representation of sodium taste in mice
Jayaram Chandrashekar1,4, Christina Kuhn2,5, Yuki Oka1,5,4, David A. Yarmolinsky1,4, Edith Hummler3, Nicholas J. P. Ryba2 & Charles S. Zuker1,4
1 Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Departments of Neurobiology and Neurosciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0649, USA
3 National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
3 Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, Faculty of Biology and Medicine,
4 University of Lausanne, CH-1005 Lausanne, Switzerland
5 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Salt taste in mammals can trigger two divergent behavioural responses. In general, concentrated saline solutions elicit robust behavioural aversion, whereas low concentrations of NaCl are typically attractive, particularly after sodium depletion1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Notably, the attractive salt pathway is selectively responsive to sodium and inhibited by amiloride, whereas the aversive one functions as a non-selective detector for a wide range of salts1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9. Because amiloride is a potent inhibitor of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), ENaC has been proposed to function as a component of the salt-taste-receptor system1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Previously, we showed that four of the five basic taste qualities—sweet, sour, bitter and umami—are mediated by separate taste-receptor cells (TRCs) each tuned to a single taste modality, and wired to elicit stereotypical behavioural responses5, 15, 16, 17, 18. Here we show that sodium sensing is also mediated by a dedicated population of TRCs. These taste cells express the epithelial sodium channel ENaC19, 20, and mediate behavioural attraction to NaCl. We genetically engineered mice lacking ENaCα in TRCs, and produced animals exhibiting a complete loss of salt attraction and sodium taste responses. Together, these studies substantiate independent cellular substrates for all five basic taste qualities, and validate the essential role of ENaC for sodium taste in mice.
