A New Mission for the Nose: Sniffing Out Multiplying Microbes
The nose is widely celebrated for its ability to detect smells
and other subtle chemical cues as well as for triggering a
teary-eyed response to an airborne irritant. Now NIDCD-funded
scientists have found a possible new role for the nose: a first-
line defender against disease-causing bacteria. Thomas Finger,
Ph.D., of the University of Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Taste and
Smell Center, and others had discovered in earlier mouse studies
the presence of individual cells scattered in a part of the
mouse’s nasal cavity normally reserved for respiratory, versus
smell-related, activities. Each cell expresses bitter taste
receptors from the T2R gene family and each is in direct contact
with the trigeminal nerve, a nerve in the head that senses
touch, temperature, and pain. (The trigeminal nerve is
responsible for your eyes watering when you cut into an onion or
for the reflexive sneeze or gasp you might have when you open up
a fizzy can of soda.) Their qu