Figure 2 | Scientific Reports

Figure 2

From: Bitter tastants relax the mouse gallbladder smooth muscle independent of signaling through tuft cells and bitter taste receptors

Figure 2

Quinine-induced gallbladder smooth muscle relaxation occurs independent of the Tas2r143/135/126 gene cluster, and of the presence of tuft cells. (A–D) ISH experiments with gene-specific anti-sense riboprobes showing absence of Tas2r126, Tas2r135, and Tas2r143 mRNA from vallate papilla taste buds in Tas2r143/135/126 triple-knockout mice, while Trpm5 mRNA is still present. Note that sense probes did not result in specific labeling (see Sup. Figs. 7 and 8). The scale bar in a equals 20 µm and accounts for (A–D). Organ bath recordings tracing the effects of increasing concentrations of quinine (1–1000 µM) on gallbladder smooth muscle tone in Tas2r143/Tas2r135/Tas2r126+/+ and Tas2r143/Tas2r135/Tas2r126–/– mice (E), and in Pou2f3+/+ and Pou2f3–/– mice (F). Each data point represents the mean (n) ± SEM. Gallbladders were pre-contracted with a single dose of CCK (0.1 µM). Scatter plots in (E,F) illustrate the maximum relaxation responses (%) triggered by quinine following the maximal contraction induced by CCK. Whiskers depict means ± SEM across the dataset. Notably, comparable relaxing effects were observed in both genotypes. The statistical analysis conducted using the Mann–Whitney-U-test and the exact p-values are reported.

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