托福阅读材料：人的味觉系统

　　Take a deep breath. Taste anything? Actually， your lungs may. Because scientists have discovered that the same receptors that exist on the tongue to taste bitter substances are also found on the smooth muscle of the lungs.

　　Researchers were studying the receptors on smooth lung muscles that regulate contraction¹ and relaxation² of theairways. That’s when they made the discovery—which was so unexpected that the researchers themselves were skeptical⁵.

　　Finally， they became convinced that the receptors were really there， though not clustered in taste buds as they are on the tongue. The scientists then exposed human and mouse airways⁴ to various bitter compounds to gauge⁶ the effects.

　　Many toxic⁷ compounds are bitter， so the researchers expected the lung muscle to tense up and contract—to compel the breather to move away from whatever was bitter and perhaps toxic. But， in a second surprise， bitter compounds relaxed and opened airways better than any existing asthma⁸ drug. The study is in the journal Nature Medicine. [Deepak Deshpande et al.， “Bitter taste receptors on airway³ smooth muscle bronchodilate by localized calcium⁹ signaling and reverse obstruction”]

　　Researchers will continue to search for the role of the receptors. Meanwhile， the work represents a surprising new lead in the search for drugs to treat asthma， emphysema or chronic¹⁰ bronchitis.

　　—Cynthia Graber

 

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