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Mechanism of Kokumi Substance Perception: Role of Calcium-Sensing Receptor (CaSR) in Perceiving Kokumi Substances

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Abstract

Some foods are known to have flavor sensations, such as continuity, mouthfulness, and thick flavor, which cannot be explained by the five basic tastes alone. It has been demonstrated that these sensations are evoked by the addition of kokumi substances, which are flavor modifiers with no actual taste themselves. However, the mechanism is poorly understood. Investigation of the perception of amino acids and peptides revealed that γ-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine (GSH) was an agonist of calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR). Therefore, we hypothesized that CaSR was involved in perception of kokumi substances. In fact, all of the CaSR-activating substances we tested were effective as kokumi substances, and there was a positive correlation between CaSR activity and kokumi intensity of γ-glutamyl peptides. Furthermore, kokumi intensities of GSH and γ-Glu-Val-Gly, a potent kokumi peptide, were significantly reduced by a CaSR inhibitor, NPS-2143. These results suggest that CaSR is involved in the perception of kokumi substances.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank Dr. Kiyoshi Miwa, Dr. Tohru Kouda, Dr. Toshihisa Kato, Naohiro Miyamura, and Dr. Yuzuru Eto of Ajinomoto Co., Inc., for their encouragement and continued support of this work. We also thank Dr. Ken Iwatsuki, Dr. Hisayuki Uneyama, and Dr. Kunio Torii for providing the antibodies and for valuable suggestions. We thank Takeaki Ohsu, Sen Takeshita, Reiko Yasuda, and Fumie Futaki for their technical assistance on CaSR activity assay. We thank Dr. Yusuke Amino, Dr. Masakazu Nakazawa, Yuki Tahara, Megumi Kaneko, and Toshihiro Hatanaka for synthesis of peptides. We are grateful to Hiroaki Nagasaki, Tomohiko Yamanaka, Fusataka Kenmotsu, Takashi Miyaki, and Takaho Tajima for conducting sensory evaluation. We are also grateful to the panelists who have participated on the sensory evaluation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Innovation, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

    Yutaka Maruyama

  2. Institute of Food Sciences & Technologies, Ajinomoto, Suzuki-cho, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

    Motonaka Kuroda

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  1. Yutaka Maruyama
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  2. Motonaka Kuroda
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Correspondence to Motonaka Kuroda .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Nutrition, Kagawa Nutrition University, Sakado, Chiyoda, Saitama, Japan

    Toshihide Nishimura

  2. Institute of Food Sciences & Technologies, Ajinomoto, Suzuki-cho, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan

    Motonaka Kuroda

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Maruyama, Y., Kuroda, M. (2019). Mechanism of Kokumi Substance Perception: Role of Calcium-Sensing Receptor (CaSR) in Perceiving Kokumi Substances. In: Nishimura, T., Kuroda, M. (eds) Koku in Food Science and Physiology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8453-0_8

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