ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2014
Bitter triggers acetylcholine release from polymodal urethral chemosensory cells and bladder reflexes.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
96 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 159 citations in OpenAlex.
- What Do We Know About Cyclooxygenases Expression in the Lower Urinary Tract of Dogs and Cats? A Systematic Review.Journal of veterinary pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Pooled it
- Bitter Chinese Herbal Medicine Exerts Pharmacological Effects via TAS2Rs: A Systematic Review from Natural Ligands to Therapeutic Potential.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Clinical Presentation of Chronic Abacterial Prostatitis Shows No Association with TAS2R38 Taster Status.Urologia internationalis · 2026Article
- Gastrointestinal tuft cells: Recent insights and next questions.Science immunology · 2026Review
- The structure and function of taste G protein-coupled receptors and their implications in diseases.International journal of oral science · 2026Review
- Sweet and umami TAS1R receptors: from molecular recognition to physiological function.Chemical senses · 2026Review
- Innate immune functions of bitter taste receptors across physiological systems.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Tuft cells contribute to the pathogenesis of human primary and experimental murine Sjögren's disease.Journal of dental sciences · 2026Article
- Tuft cell-mediated pathogen sensing and inflammation resolution.Biochemical Society transactions · 2025Review
- Development of urinary impairment after spinal cord injury courses with altered urethral serotonin signalling in the female mice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Physiological functions and pharmacological targeting of transient receptor potential channels.Pharmacological reviews · 2025Review
- Advancing our Understanding of the Urothelium and Lamina Propria, Hormone Receptors, Vascular Supply, and Sensory Aspects of the Female Human Urethra.Neurourology and urodynamics · 2025Review
- Identification and Validation of Oxidative Stress-Related Diagnostic Marker Genes and Immune Landscape in Ulcerative Interstitial Cystitis by Integrating Bioinformatics and Machine Learning.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Article
- A systematic review of data and models for predicting food flavor and texture.Current research in food science · 2025Review
- Tuft cells in the intestine, immunity and beyond.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2024Review
- Bitter tastants relax the mouse gallbladder smooth muscle independent of signaling through tuft cells and bitter taste receptors.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Weep and sweep and the broom: tuft cell acetylcholine limits the worm.Trends in parasitology · 2024Article
- Tuft cell acetylcholine is released into the gut lumen to promote anti-helminth immunity.Immunity · 2024Article
- Tuft cell-derived acetylcholine promotes epithelial chloride secretion and intestinal helminth clearance.Immunity · 2024Article
- VirtuousPocketome: a computational tool for screening protein-ligand complexes to identify similar binding sites.Scientific reports · 2024Article
36 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chemosensory cells in the mucosal surface of the respiratory tract ("brush cells") use the canonical taste transduction cascade to detect potentially hazardous content and trigger local protective and aversive respiratory reflexes on stimulation. So far, the urogenital tract has been considered to lack this cell type. Here we report the presence of a previously unidentified cholinergic, polymodal chemosensory cell in the mammalian urethra, the potential portal of entry for bacteria and harmful substances into the urogenital system, but not in further centrally located parts of the urinary tract, such as the bladder, ureter, and renal pelvis. Urethral brush cells express bitter and umami taste receptors and downstream components of the taste transduction cascade; respond to stimulation with bitter (denatonium), umami (monosodium glutamate), and uropathogenic Escherichia coli; and release acetylcholine to communicate with other cells. They are approached by sensory nerve fibers expressing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, and intraurethral application of denatonium reflexively increases activity of the bladder detrusor muscle in anesthetized rats. We propose a concept of urinary bladder control involving a previously unidentified cholinergic chemosensory cell monitoring the chemical composition of the urethral luminal microenvironment for potential hazardous content.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.