Nose, Tongue, and Taste Bud

Odor Molecules Odor molecules go up our nose and into the nasal cavity. These molecules come off of food, flowers, or even garbage. What ever we smell must come into the body to be detected.

Nasal Cavity These are two air filled areas that are connected to the nostrils. The Cavities warm or cool the air, to better match body temperature.

Mucus Layer A mucus layer in the nose that traps any foreign molecules that enter to protect the breathing airways.

Nasal Bone These bones hold together the cartilage that creates the structure of the nose.

Olfactory Cilia These detect the molecules that have adhered to the mucus and through a complex identification process, combine the receptors that are activated to identify and create the sensation of smell

Olfactory Bulb It collects the information gathered from the cilia and transfers this information to the olfactory tract to send to the brain.

Olfactory Tract Is a bundle of nerves that send the information from the olfactory bulb to parts of the brain including the piriform cortex, the amygdala, and the entorhinal cortex.  

The Taste Buds All but the Filiform papillae detect food molecules and send signals to the brain to give us our sense of taste. They can detect salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami (a savory taste like meat or fermented things). All areas of your tongue taste all five tastes but that is it. The rest of our “taste” comes from our nose. Foliate Papillae Filiform Papillae Fungiform Papillae

Circumvallate Papillae These are the largest of the taste buds and are located in a V at the back of your tongue. They actually have the same structures as the little ones just a bigger surface area.

Lingual Tonsil They are at the back of the tongue and are part of the immune system. They produce antibodies to fight off infection. Lingual papillae, particularly filiform papillae, are thought to increase the surface area of the tongue and to increase the area of contact and friction between the tongue and food.  This may increase the tongue's ability to manipulate food, position it between the teeth during chewing and swallowing.

Palatine Tonsil One of its main purposes is to trap bacteria so that antibodies can be made and the bacteria destroyed before entering our system.

Palatopharynged Arch These are mucus membranes covering the muscle that leads to the throat and which separates the nose from the throat.

Microvilli These are hair like structures that catch and absorb food particles to create a sense of taste.

Taste Cell A taste cell has all 5 receptors for taste (bitter, salty, sour, sweet and umami), the cells that are triggered then send a signal to the afferent nerve to tell the brain what taste qualities it is perceiving.

Taste Pore This is the opening a taste bud has to the surface of the tongue. Saliva helps break down the food while you are chewing to tiny particles to sense and to make swallowing easier. Without saliva our taste is very limited since the particles are too large to absorb.

Afferent Nerve The nerve then takes the impulses from the taste cells to the brain to combine with the information being sent from the nose to create our sense of taste.