A special microscopic camera has revealed to scientists the taste bud process in action for the first time in real time.

A worldwide group of researchers captured the tasting sensation in real time with the use of a special camera that focused on a single tongue cell of a mouse. Scientists watched the performance as it was accelerated by various tastes.

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Witnessing the tasting process for the first time up close and personal led scientists to discovering that tongue cells develop molecules in blood vessels adjacent to them, and also those in closer contact with food.

The tongue cells were illuminated by an infrared light in the microscopic camera. The technology called "intravital multiphoton microscopy" has the ability to make different components of the cell become fluorescent.

Intravital multipohoton microscopy is also able to detail the blood vessels beneath the cell surface with a size of some 240 microns.

With these new findings, scientists are hopeful this technology can also be paired with brain imaging. They hope the technology can allow them to see how the full system works in real time.

"We've watched live taste cells capture and process molecules with different tastes," said Steve Lee, an engineer specialized in biomedical at the Australian National University. "Until we can simultaneously capture both the neurological and physiological events, we can't fully unravel the logic behind taste," Lee stated.

Previous studies examined the relation between the tongue and the brain. Scientists have recorded 2,000 and more different taste cells able to distinguish each of five tastes: sweet, bitter, salty, umami and sour.

Understanding the complex connections between cell clusters and taste buds is critical since each taste bud consists of multiple cells.

"With this new imaging tool we have shown that each taste bud contains taste cells for different tastes", said Seok-Hyun Yun, a Harvard Medical School professor.

TagsScientists Capture How Taste Cells Work, taste buds, taste cells, Tongue, umami, cells study, tasting sensation