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You Have Taste Receptors In Your Lungs

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-the-rest-of-us,-just-you dept.

timothy points out news of a study from the University of Maryland's School of Medicine that found bitter taste receptors on the smooth muscle lining airways in the lungs (abstract in Nature). Quoting: "The taste receptors in the lungs are the same as those on the tongue. The tongue’s receptors are clustered in taste buds, which send signals to the brain. The researchers say that in the lung, the taste receptors are not clustered in buds and do not send signals to the brain, yet they respond to substances that have a bitter taste. ... 'I initially thought the bitter-taste receptors in the lungs would prompt a "fight or flight" response to a noxious inhalant, causing chest tightness and coughing so you would leave the toxic environment, but that’s not what we found,' says Dr. Liggett. ... The researchers tested a few standard bitter substances known to activate these receptors. 'It turns out that the bitter compounds worked the opposite way from what we thought. They all opened the airway more extensively than any known drug that we have for treatment of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).'"

6 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Mod points by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Lets see if anyone wastes their mod points on this comment

    1. Re:Mod points by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Way to waste your own mod point there. I get it, but it is not funny.

  2. Re:That explains my preference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    you seem like a JR regular. you're such a 'phobe. god hates you, and what's more, god is a black gay woman. so there you go sunshine, your calling in life is to be hated for being a hater. now make me a god damned fucking sandwich you bigoted asshole!

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  4. Re:Neurotransmitters Are Bitter by eeyoredragon · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    He was so lonely, girl. He was sad and down. Didn't understand why haters joked around. He wanted to be free with other creatures in the sea. Now he got his wish... cause he knows that he's a gay fish.

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    Muthafuckin gay fish. He's a fish, yo

  5. Re:That explains my preference by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You can always break out a can of Zyklon, and gas your own arse!

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."