Sense of taste is central to evaluate food before digestion. Taste stem cells undergo constant differentiation throughout the life. However, the mechanism underlying the generation of taste receptor cells is still not clear. Here, we cultured taste organoids from either Lgr5+ or Lgr5-cells, and found the preferential generation of Car4+ and Gustducin + taste receptor cells in organoids derived from Lgr5+ cells in circumvallate, foliate or fungiform papillae. Taste organoids derived from Lgr5+ cells in circumvallate papillae of neonatal mice showed stronger capacity to generate taste receptor cells compared to the organoids from Lgr5+ cells of the adult circumvallate papillae. Massive transcriptional differences were found in multiple signaling pathways including taste transduction between organoids derived from circumvallate papillae of adult and neonatal mice. Inhibiting the Notch signaling pathway by LY411575 enhanced taste receptor cell generation in organoids from circumvallate papillae and modulated multiple signaling pathways. Thus, we concluded that receptor cell generation in taste organoids was age-related and regulated via multiple signaling pathways.

味觉是消化之前评估食物的关键。味觉干细胞在整个生命中都会不断分化。但是，味觉受体细胞生成的机制尚不清楚。在这里，我们培养了来自Lgr5 +或Lgr5-细胞的味觉类器官，并发现在环周，叶状或真菌状乳头中衍生自Lgr5 +细胞的类群中优先生成Car4 +和Gustducin +味觉细胞。与来自成年环周乳头的Lgr5 +细胞的类器官相比，新生小鼠环周乳头的Lgr5 +细胞衍生的类味器官显示出更强的生成味觉细胞的能力。在多个信号通路中发现了大量的转录差异，包括成年小鼠和新生小鼠的环周乳头状乳突类器官之间的味觉转导。通过LY411575抑制Notch信号通路可增强环周乳头的类器官中的味觉受体细胞生成，并调节多个信号通路。因此，我们得出结论，味觉类器官中的受体细胞生成与年龄有关，并通过多种信号通路进行调节。