Bitter tastants and artificial sweeteners activate a subset of epithelial cells in acute tissue slices of the rat trachea

Bitter and sweet receptors (T2Rs and T1Rs) are expressed in many extra-oral tissues including upper and lower airways. To investigate if bitter tastants and artificial sweeteners could activate physiological responses in tracheal epithelial cells we performed confocal Ca 2+ imaging recordings on acute tracheal slices. We stimulated the cells with denatonium benzoate, a T2R agonist, and with the artificial sweeteners sucralose, saccharin and...