Part 2:
Taste Buds in Your Mouth

How does a taste bud work?

Taste Bud in Mouth model handout

Initial Model

Make a copy of Student Model 1: The Taste Bud.

Click on the picture to open the document.

Under FILE, choose Make a Copy or Download. You can also draw your model from scratch, or click here for a PDF.

Draw in steps on the model to show what you think is happening in the taste buds when you taste a sweet taste. Think about how the signal is perceived, or noticed, what happens inside the cell, and what the cellular response is.

After you've made your initial model, watch this video.

What do you think happens when a person uses Gymnema?

Compare the structures of Gymnema, sucrose, and glucose.

What do you notice?

How might the structure of Gymnema be related to how it works to take away the taste of sweetness?

Gymnema






Sucrose (table sugar)







Glucose is one component of sucrose.

Glucose

Go back to your model taste bud and revise your model as needed.