Obesity-induced taste bud loss in mice is only partially remediated long after return to a healthy weight.

Fiona Harnischfeger, Robin Dando

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Article in International journal of obesity (2005), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

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2 authors.

Fiona HarnischfegerDepartment of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.

Robin DandoDepartment of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. robin.dando@cornell.edu.ORCID 0000-0001-8539-3971

Funding

USDA 7005561

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMice developing obesity through their diet have fewer taste buds than littermates maintained on healthy chow. In this experiment we investigated if diet-induced taste bud loss, inflammation, and an attenuated regenerative capacity of taste buds would persist after return to a healthy weight.

methods8-week-old C57Bl/6 mice were split into three groups, one (chow) maintained on a standard lab chow diet for 16 weeks, a second (HFD) maintained on a high fat diet for 16 weeks, while the third (diet) was placed on a HFD for the first 8 weeks, then switched to the healthy diet.

resultsIn this second 8 week period, diet mice lost all excess weight. Despite returning to a healthy weight, dieted mice showed only minor recovery of taste buds, with better recovery for proliferating cells and cells undergoing apoptosis. HFD mice exhibited increased tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) expression, with altered Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) and Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) expression, both linked to taste homeostasis.

conclusionsOverall, data demonstrate that obesity has a persistent effect on taste buds long after excess weight is lost.

Indexed as

ObesityTaste BudsWeight LossAnimalsBone Morphogenetic Protein 4Diet, High-FatDisease Models, AnimalHedgehog ProteinsMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLTumor Necrosis Factor-alphaBone Morphogenetic Protein 4Hedgehog ProteinsTumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Identifiers

PMID41398382

DOI10.1038/s41366-025-01982-4

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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.