AMF protects against the CYP-induced decreases in taste sensitivity and the number of fungiform papillae with and without pore, and improves overall morphological index of fungiform taste buds.
<p>(A) Sucrose detection thresholds, before and after saline, CYP, AMF or AMF/CYP injection. The graph shows the mean (± SEM) threshold concentration of sucrose (Y-axis, log scale) across days (X-axis) post-injection. Days −1, −2 indicate thresholds before the injection. CYP-injected mice showed significant elevations of sucrose detection thresholds on days 2–5 and 9–15 after injection, while AMF/CYP-injected mice showed significant elevation in sucrose detection threshold on days 9–11 post-injection. (B) Mean (± SEM) number of all fungiform papillae across days post-injection. CYP injection significantly decreased the total number of fungiform taste papillae on post-injection days 4, 7 and 10 compared with saline control mice. AMF/CYP-injected mice had significantly higher number of papillae compared to CYP-injected mice on days 4 and 7. (C) Mean (± SEM) number of fungiform papillae with a taste pore across days post-injection. There was also a significant drop in the number of fungiform taste papillae with pores on days 4, 7 and 10 compared with saline controls. AMF/CYP groups had significantly higher number of papillae with pores on days 4, 7 and 10 compared to CYP groups. To the right of the graph are examples of a fungiform papilla without (upper image) and with a pore (lower image). The red arrow identified the opening of a pore. (D) Morphological index of fungiform papillae across days in saline-, CYP- or AMF/CYP-injected mice. The morphological index is expressed as p/P, where p = proper taste buds and P = Total number of taste buds. There was a significant decrease in the morphological index for CYP-injected mice on days 4, 7 and 10 compared to saline controls. AMF/CYP mice revealed a protective effect of AMF on days 4 and 7 (*** <i>P</i><0.001;** <i>P</i><0.01;* <i>P</i><0.05).</p
