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)

Chlorhexidine (CHX) is a compound with plaque-inhibiting effects and available only by prescription in the United States. In Norway, however, CHX has been dispensed over-the-counter for over 20 years, and this study was undertaken to evaluate dentists' perceptions regarding its indications, usefulness, and side effects. A written questionnaire was sent to a sample of 10% of dentists registered in Norway, 78% of whom (354) responded. Additionally, representatives from 2% of all dental practices in Norway were contacted by telephone. Fourteen percent (14%) of the respondents reported that they never recommended CHX to their patients. Among those recommending the compound, 85% used it frequently after surgical periodontal procedures; 74% when treating acute gingivitis; 57% following oral surgery in general; and 35% during non-surgical periodontal therapy. It was used also as an adjunct to other treatment routines. Seventy-three percent (73%) reported frequent use of CHX when treating stomatitis and 54% in herpes simplex infections. As to side effects, 77% of the dentists indicated that staining of teeth, restorations, and the tongue was a major concern to patients; 12% reported inconveniences due to the bitter taste; and 6% reported other disturbances such as dryness of the mouth and development of oral ulcerations. The majority (94%) of the dentists recommended mouth rinsing, whereas 6% recommended a gel form. Only 4% of the dentists recommended rinsing with a patient-diluted 0.1% concentration, whereas 96% recommended the standard 0.2% formulation; 88% recommended using CHX mouthwash twice a day or more often.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Chlorhexidine use after two decades of over-the-counter availability. 815 6

Chlorhexidine gluconate at a dose used to control bacteria in the mouth has a reversible effect on taste perception. Taste-intensity ratings and taste-quality identification for concentration series of sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid and quinine hydrochloride were obtained from 15 healthy humans. The participants rinsed with 0.12% chlorhexidine for 3 min twice a day. Each individual was tested 3 times: before the 4-day rinse period, 30 min after the final rinse, and 4 days after the rinse period. Chlorhexidine rinses reduced the perceptual intensity of sodium chloride and quinine hydrochloride, not sucrose or citric acid. No effects on taste perception were detected 4 days after the rinse period. The identification of sodium chloride as salty was seriously impaired by chlorhexidine but the identification of quinine hydrochloride as bitter was not affected. Specific sites of action of chlorhexidine on the taste epithelium are not known but its effects on salty taste may be related to its strong positive charge and its effect on bitter taste may be related to its amphiphilicity. Chlorhexidine has promise as a probe of taste transduction, as well as for the management of salty/bitter dysgeusias in humans.
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PMID:Effects of chlorhexidine on human taste perception. 852 1

Chlorhexidine, a bitter bis-biguanide antiseptic, is the only known blocker of the human salty taste. In order to characterize the effects of chlorhexidine on stimulus identification, taste confusion matrix (TCM) performance was measured for subjects treated with 1.34 mM chlorhexidine gluconate (n = 9) and water controls (n = 9). Ten stimuli [water, 0.1 M NaCl, 0.1 M KCl, 0.1 mM quinine-HCl (QHCl), 0.1 M monosodium glutamate (MSG), 3 mM citric acid, 0.3 M sucrose and mixtures of NaCl, QHCl and citric acid with sucrose] were presented in 10 replicates for identification from a list of 10 stimulus names. T(10), a measure of performance consistency from information theory, was lower for chlorhexidine-treated subjects (2.02 +/- 0.11 bits) than controls (2.73 +/- 0.11 bits) (P < 0.0001). T(2), an indirect measure of pairwise stimulus discrimination, approached chance levels (0.40 bit) in chlorhexidine-treated subjects for all possible pairs of NaCl, KCl, QHCl and water, as well as pairs composed of sucrose and the NaCl-sucrose and quinine-sucrose mixtures. In controls T(2) values approached perfect scores (1.00 bit) for all stimulus pairs except NaCl-KCl and NaCl-MSG. The results demonstrate a decreased ability to identify taste stimuli that is consistent with alterations in the ability of stimuli to elicit salty and bitter taste perceptions. As a selective, effective, persistent and reversible blocker of taste perceptions, chlorhexidine should prove useful in defining taste mechanisms in humans.
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PMID:Taste confusions following chlorhexidine treatment. 1175 71

Chlorhexidine (CHX) gluconate, a bitter bis-biguanide antiseptic, reduces the intensity of the salty taste of NaCl and bitter taste of quinine in humans. This study addresses regional specificity of CHX's effects on taste. Perceptual intensity and quality were measured for separate taste bud containing oral loci innervated either by afferent fibers of cranial nerve (CN) VII or CN IX. Measurements were obtained following three 1-min oral rinses with either 1.34 mM CHX or water, the control rinse. CHX rinse reduced the intensity of NaCl more at the tongue tip and palate than at posterior oral sites. Thus, fungiform and palatal salt-taste receptors may differ from salt-taste receptors of the foliate and circumvallate taste papillae. The intensity of quinine.HCl was reduced equally by CHX at all sites tested but was frequently tasteless on the less sensitive anterior sites, suggesting quinine receptor diversity. In rodents, a portion of NaCl-taste receptors in the receptive field of CN VII is sensitive to the epithelial Na+ channel blocker amiloride and a portion is amiloride insensitive; all CN IX receptors are amiloride insensitive. The current results are the first to suggest that there may also be distinct, regionally specific populations of NaCl-taste receptors in humans.
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PMID:Regional specificity of chlorhexidine effects on taste perception. 1826 92