6533b826fe1ef96bd1284777

RESEARCH PRODUCT

The oral lipid sensor GPR120 is not indispensable for the orosensory detectionof dietary lipids in the mouse

subject

description

International audience; Implication of the long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) receptor GPR120, also termed free fatty acid receptor 4 (FFAR4), in the taste-guided preference for lipids is a matter of debate. To further unravel the role of GPR120 in the "taste of fat", the present study was conducted on GPR120-null mice and their wild-type littermates. Using a combination of morphological (i.e. immunohistochemical staining of circumvallate papillae - CVP), behavioral (i.e. two-bottle preference tests, licking tests and conditioned taste aversion) and functional studies (i.e. calcium imaging in freshly isolated taste bud cells - TBC), we show that absence of GPR120 in oral cavity was not associated with changes in i) the gross anatomy of CVP, ii) the LCFA-mediated increases in [Ca2+]i, iii) the preference for oily and LCFA solutions and iv) the conditioned avoidance of LCFA solutions. In contrast, the rise in [Ca2+]i triggered by grifolic acid (GA), a specific GPR120 agonist, was dramatically curtailed when GPR120 gene was lacking. Taken together these data demonstrate that activation of lingual GPR120 and preference for fat are disconnected, suggesting that GPR120 expressed in TBC is not absolutely required for the oral fat detection in the mouse.