Dr. Charlotte Mistretta
E-mail: chmist@umich.edu
Phone: (734) 647-3911
Fax: (734) 764-7406
Accomplishments
- Ph.D., Florida State University
- NIDR Research Career Development Award, 1979-1983
- Member, Sensory Physiology and Perception Advisory Panel, NSF, 1980-1983
- Member, Communicative Disorders Review Committee, NINCDS, 1983-1987
- Executive Chairperson, Assn. for Chemoreception Sciences, 1987-1988
- Member, Board of Scientific Counselors, NIDCD, 1991-1995
- Claude Pepper Merit Award, NIDCD, 1988-1995
- Member, International Committee on Olfaction and Taste, 1994-2000
Research Projects
My research is to understand early development and differentiation of the taste system. On the tongue, taste receptor organs or taste buds form in specialized structures, the gustatory papillae. These papillae are distributed in specific spatial patterns and each papilla type has a characteristic innervation, morphology and number of taste buds. The taste system, therefore, provides a unique system for study of nerve/tissue interactions in sense organ development, and investigation of factors that direct development of sensory receptors in patterns.
Current research in the laboratory includes study of developmental interactions between embryonic neurons in geniculate, petrosal and trigeminal ganglia and their sensory target organs in the tongue - the taste papillae and resident taste buds. To learn about initial formation and differentiation of the taste ganglia and papillae, cell and organ culture systems are used, and co-cultures of embryonic sensory ganglia and tongue tissues. Recent experiments are focused on understanding the role of exogenous neurotrophins in neurite outgrowth from gustatory ganglion cells. Cultured ganglion explants are further studied using whole cell recordings to examine electrophysiological properties, with and without added neurotrophins and target organs.
In studies of taste papillae, the role of patterning genes in directing papilla induction is of interest. The nature of the molecular exchanges between tongue epithelial and mesenchymal tissues during formation of the taste papillae, in advance of neurite growth into the tongue, is also being investigated.
Publications
- Bao H, Bradley RM and Mistretta CM: Development of intrinsic electrophysiological properties in neurons from the gustatory region of rat nucleus of solitary tract. Dev Brain Res, 86:143-154, 1995.
- Mistretta CM and Haus LF: Temporal and spatial patterns of tenascin and laminin immunoreactivity suggest roles for extracellular matrix in development of gustatory papillae and taste buds. J Comp Neurol, 364: 535-555, 1996.
- Mbiene J-P, MacCallum DK, and Mistretta CM: Organ cultures of embryonic rat tongue support tongue and gustatory papilla morphogenesis in vitro without intact sensory ganglia. J Comp Neurol, 377:324-340, 1997.
- Mbiene J-P and Mistretta CM: Sensory and motor nerves in rat tongue and developing taste papillae exhibit precise and spatially restricted pathways from time of initial innervation. Acta Anat, in press, 1998.
- Mistretta CM: The role of innervation in induction and differentiation of taste organs: introduction and background. Ann NY Acad Sci, in press, 1998.
