Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America 2013. Longitudinal Analysis of Calorie Restriction on Rat Taste Bud Morphology and Expression of Sweet Taste Modulators

Calorie restriction (CR) is a lifestyle intervention employed to reduce body weight and improve metabolic functions pri-marily via reduction of ingested carbohydrates and fats. Taste perception is highly related to functional metabolic status and body adiposity. We have previously shown that sweet taste perception diminishes with age; however, relatively little is known about the effects of various lengths of CR upon taste cell morphology and function. We investigated the effects of CR on taste bud morphology and expression of sweet taste–related modulators in 5-, 17-, and 30-month-old rats. In ad libitum (AL) and CR rats, we consistently found the following parameters altered significantly with advancing age: reduction of taste bud size and taste cell numbers per taste bud and reduced expression of sonic hedgehog, type 1 taste receptor 3 (T1r3), α-gustducin, and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). In the oldest rats, CR affected a significant reduc-tion of tongue T1r3, GLP-1, and α-gustducin expression compared with age-matched AL rats. Leptin receptor immuno