The chemicals present in food dissolve in the saliva and enter the taste buds through the pores.

Once inside, they stimulate the taste receptor cells. This stimulation is transmitted through the nerve fibres as electrical impulses. The nerve fibres of the taste receptor cells become part of the facial, the glossopharyngeal and the vagus nerves. These nerves pass through the brain stem. The sense of taste is perceived in the taste centre of the cerebral cortex of the parietal lobe of cerebral hemisphere. Putative transduction pathway for fatty acids in taste and trigeminal cells. Fatty acids (FA) delivered by the binding protein CD36 activate specific G proteincoupled receptors (like GPR120) to initiate a transduction cascade that in turn produces a second messenger leading to release of calcium from intracellular stores and activation of a store-operated ion channel (CRAC or TRPM-like channel) to produce a receptor potential. This potential opens fatty acid-sensitive DRK channels that are subsequently blocked by FA, leading to an enhanced and prolonged depolarization. The ratio of FA-sensitive:FA-insensitive DRK channels helps to determine the magnitude of the overall chemosensory response to FA stimulation. This depolarization is the impetus for the eventual release of neurotransmitter onto gustatory afferent fibers. It is not known whether the pathway downstream of DRK channels is in the same cell as the upstream elements or if this part of the pathway involves cell-to-cell signaling.

Taste buds (left) are composed of 50150 TRCs (depending on the species), distributed across different papillae. Circumvallate papillae are found at the very back of the tongue and contain hundreds (mice) to thousands (human) of taste buds. Foliate papillae are present at the posterior lateral edge of the tongue and contain a dozen to hundreds of taste buds.

Fungiform papillae contain one or a few taste buds and are found in the anterior two-thirds of the tongue. TRCs project microvillae to the apical surface of the taste bud, where they form the 'taste pore'; this is the site of interaction with tastants. Three nerves bring taste messages to messages to the brainstem: the facial nerve(VII), shown in the picture above, which brings messages from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue; the hypoglossal nerve(IX), which brings messages from the posterior tongue; and the glossopharyngeal nerve, which brings messages from the throat area and the palate. The nerve carrying messages from the touch/temperature/pain system is called the trigeminal nerve. All of these nerves bring their messages to the brainstem, where they combine their signals in areas of the brainstem that are involved with arousal (for example from sleep), and are - according to Antonio Damasio in The Feeling of What Happens - the locus of our sense of self. As taste messages move further through the brain, they join up with smell messages to give the sensation of flavor

There are two cranial nerves that innervate the tongue and are used for taste: the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII) and the glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX). The facial nerve innervates the anterior (front) two-thirds of the tongue and the glossopharyngeal nerve innervates that posterior (back) one-third part of the tongue. Another cranial nerve (the vagus nerve, X) carries taste information from the back part of the mouth. The cranial nerves carry taste information into the brain to a part of the brain stem called the nucleus of the solitary tract . From the nucleus of the solitary tract, taste information goes to the thalamus and then to the cerebral cortex. Like information for smell, taste information also goes to the limbic system (hypothalamus and amygdala). Another cranial nerve (the trigeminal nerve, V)

also innervates the tongue, but is not used for taste. Rather, the trigeminal nerve carries information related to touch, pressure, temperature and pain. C hai dy thn kinh s t v c s d g o g v: thn kinh mt (dy thn kinh s VII) v dy thn kinh thit hu (dy thn kinh s IX). Cc dy thn kinh trn khun mt erv tes ( tr ) tr c hai ph i v cc dy thn kinh thit hu innervates rng mt phn (back) sau mt ph i. Mt dy thn kinh s khc (cc dy thn kinh ph v, X) m g t gt g v t phn sau ca ming. Cc dy thn kinh s o m g t gt g v vo trong no mt phn c t o c gi l ht nhn c g c. T ht nhn c g c, mi v t g t i th v s u n v no. Gi g t gt o m , g v t gt g vi h th g m (v g d i v hch hnh nhn). Mt dy thn kinh s khc (cc dy thn s , V) g erv tes , g g c s d g o g v. Thay vo , d y th s m gt g t qu n cm ng, nhit , p sut v u.