Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0235290 (bitter taste)
 1,408 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Norfloxacin is a quinoline (quinolinecarboxylic acid) that should prove successful in treating infections that currently require hospitalization and intravenous antibiotics. Although a nalidixic acid derivative, it possesses greater antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Compared with other antimicrobial agents, norfloxacin is more potent than the aminoglycosides, first-, second-, and third-generation cephalosporins, tetracycline, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, carbenicillin, piperacillin, nalidixic acid, oxolinic acid, cinoxacin, and enoxacin. In the clinical studies to date, the side effects of norfloxacin have been minimal, but include nausea, vomiting, anorexia, dizziness, headache, drowsiness, depression, and a bitter taste in the mouth. In studies with more than 4000 patients, the incidence of side effects ranged from 3.9 to 4.7 percent, with most appearing by the second day of therapy.
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PMID:Norfloxacin: a quinoline antibiotic. 351 15

A short review is given of the pharmacokinetic characteristics and side effects of the nitroimidazoles: metronidazole, tinidazole and ornidazole. The drugs are well absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, maximum plasma levels generally being obtained 1 to 4 h after oral intake. Metronidazole has been shown to be absorbed after rectal administration; vaginal absorption is documented for all three drugs. The nitroimidazoles are widely distributed in the body, cross the placenta and appear in breast milk. Therapeutically effective concentrations of e.g. metronidazole have been demonstrated in e.g. the central nervous system, middle ear discharges, bile, peritoneal fluid, and fluids and tissues of the female genital tract. The binding to plasma proteins is less than 20%. Available data suggest that the elimination half-lives of these drugs differ, being 7-8 h for metronidazole, about 12 h for tinidazole and 14-15 h for ornidazole. Both metronidazole and ornidazole, but not tinidazole, seem to be extensively metabolized before elimination. The nature and frequency of adverse reactions to this drug include encephalopathy in a few patients treated with doses between 5 and 10 g daily as an adjunct to radiotherapy, and peripheral neuropathy observed in patients treated for prolonged periods with high doses. Among the common side effects of the nitroimidazoles are symptoms from the gastrointestinal tract such as nausea, anorexia, vomiting and metallic or bitter taste. Dizziness, ataxia and headache have been reported. When given together with alcohol, a disulfiram-like intolerance reaction can be obtained.
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PMID:Pharmacokinetics of nitroimidazoles. Spectrum of adverse reactions. 694 57

There have been some reports on the efficacy and tolerability of itraconazole (ITCZ) as prophylaxis for fungal infection after HSCT, and guidelines recommend itraconazole as a standard drug for prophylaxis of fungal infection in HSCT patients. However, it is not uncommon for patients undergoing HSCT to develop anorexia and taste disturbance. There are some cases where the bitter taste of ITCZ oral solution leads to interruption of administration because the patient refuses to take this medicine. Therefore, we investigated the clinical utility and influence on continuing treatment adherence by jellification of ITCZ. Compared with ITCZ oral solution, jellified ITCZ was extremely easy for most patients to take, and it was suggested that jellified ITCZ can make it easier for patients to continue treatment if they have difficulty with administration because of the bitter taste of ITCZ oral solution. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the plasma concentration of ITCZ was suitable for prophylaxis even with jellified ITCZ. This also suggested that the efficacy of ITCZ would be maintained by using jellified formation. For long-term antifungal therapy in patients with a high risk of fungal infection such as those having HSCT, it is very important for successful prophylaxis to maintain good adherence.
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PMID:[Development of treatment adherence by jellification of itraconazole oral solution]. 1937 67

Inflammatory cytokines are important regulators of metabolism and food intake. Over production of inflammatory cytokines during bacterial and viral infections leads to anorexia and reduced food intake. However, it remains unclear whether any inflammatory cytokines are involved in the regulation of taste reception, the sensory mechanism governing food intake. Previously, we showed that tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a potent proinflammatory cytokine, is preferentially expressed in a subset of taste bud cells. The level of TNF in taste cells can be further induced by inflammatory stimuli. To investigate whether TNF plays a role in regulating taste responses, in this study, we performed taste behavioral tests and gustatory nerve recordings in TNF knockout mice. Behavioral tests showed that TNF-deficient mice are significantly less sensitive to the bitter compound quinine than wild-type mice, while their responses to sweet, umami, salty, and sour compounds are comparable to those of wild-type controls. Furthermore, nerve recording experiments showed that the chorda tympani nerve in TNF knockout mice is much less responsive to bitter compounds than that in wild-type mice. Chorda tympani nerve responses to sweet, umami, salty, and sour compounds are similar between TNF knockout and wild-type mice, consistent with the results from behavioral tests. We further showed that taste bud cells express the two known TNF receptors TNFR1 and TNFR2 and, therefore, are potential targets of TNF. Together, our results suggest that TNF signaling preferentially modulates bitter taste responses. This mechanism may contribute to taste dysfunction, particularly taste distortion, associated with infections and some chronic inflammatory diseases.
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PMID:Regulation of bitter taste responses by tumor necrosis factor. 2591 Oct 43

This overview paper describes in its introductory part bitter-tasting herbal drugs in the context of their traditional use in the loss of appetite and digestive disorders. Then, it mentions current knowledge on signals origin in bitter taste receptors leading to different, unexpected physiological processes. Newly observed biological effects of bitter tastants are correlated with modern trends of their complex study with an aim to develop new drugs primarily acting on bitter taste receptors.Key words: T2R bitter taste receptors GPCR bitters glucose homeostasis asthma ghrelin GLP-1 solitary chemosensory cells.
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PMID:[Cellular and molecular mechanisms of action of bitter compounds: recent knowledge and perspective]. 2786 Apr 72