Figure 1.

Anatomical organization of the peripheral gustatory system and the first central synaptic relay in the NTS. The CT nerve innervates taste buds in fungiform and foliate papillae on the anterior tongue. The GSP nerve innervates taste buds in the nasoincisor duct, the geschmacksstreifen (GS), and the soft palate. Both nerves make up the VII cranial nerve and have cell bodies in the geniculate ganglia. The IX nerve innervates taste buds in foliate and circumvallate papillae on the posterior tongue and has cell bodies in the petrosal ganglia. All three nerves terminate in the ipsilateral NTS; the IX nerve is shown at left only for illustrative purposes. The fluorescent markers used to detect each terminal field are noted in parentheses. See Materials and Methods for a detailed description. [The figure is adapted from May and Hill (2006).]