What is the average life span of a taste bud?

Flynn_17

Cells within the taste buds only live for between 10-14 days, but the taste bud itself will not die. If it is damaged, however, it will have to wait for a nerve to innervate it. How do you re-generate your taste buds if they are inflammed as the result of a cold? If your definition of the word "you" means that you have to physically do the regeneration at will, the answer is, you can't regenerate your taste buds through your own effort. If you use "you" to pertain to your body, the answer is, your taste buds will automatically regenerate over time. Below is an explanation that doesn't exactly relate to inflammation as a result of cold but describes how your taste buds regenerate: "Both the development and maintenance of taste buds is dependent on nerve innervation. If the nerve innervating taste buds is cut, the taste buds degenerate, and do not reappear until the nerve reinnervates the tissue. It is not know how the nerve activates taste bud formation, and only specific nerves will regenerate taste buds. Cells within the taste bud have a limited life span of approximately ten days to two weeks. Therefore, new taste cells must continually differentiate to replace dying taste cells, and cells at a variety of different developmental stages are present within a single taste bud. In consequence, the synapses between taste receptor cells and nerves must constantly be remodeled. Several morphologically distinct cells can be distinguished within a single taste bud; these different cell types may represent different stages in the development of a taste cell." http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=197930 Apr 06 05, 9:56 AM

Flynn_17

To innervate means: 1.To supply (an organ or a body part) with nerves. 2. To stimulate (a nerve, muscle, or body part) to action. (Source: Bartleby.com - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.) http://www.bartleby.com/61/16/I0151600.html As described in the excerpt, the regeneration of the taste buds depend on nerve innervation. It is the main factor in taste bud regeneration or degeneration. It also says that cells within the taste bud have a limited life span of approximately ten days to two weeks. So this means that whether or not the taste bud cells get inflamed as the result of a cold, they will eventually be replaced by new cells after some time. So you can just imagine that every two weeks you have new taste buds. I reckon that you asked this question because you have very minimal sense of taste since you got a cold. Taste is not just defined by your taste buds. Your sense of smell also comes in to play. And so, since your olfactory nerves (nerves inside your nose) can't function normally because of your cold, your sense of taste is also affected. Apr 06 05, 9:56 AM

SOTHC

Very short, in my case, as they commit suicide rather than face my wife's cooking. Also see Question #46047 http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question46047.html Apr 06 05, 1:37 PM