B. Göran Hellekant, PhD, DVM

Professor Animal Health and Biomedical Sciences School of Veterinary Medicine University of Wisconsin 1656 Linden Drive Madison, WI 53706-1581 Phone: 608-262-3177 Fax: 608-262-7420 Email: hellekant@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu Web: http://www.ahabs.wisc.edu/~?

Research Description

He has 121 printed publications and his research activities consist of taste physiology, sweeteners and sweetness, oral circulation, and salivation. The research uses a large number of animal models both for electrophysiology and behavior. Present projects study how the ability to taste sweet and bitter is affected by presence or absence of sweet and bitter receptors in the taste buds. We are also researching what kind of intracellular links that are involved in sweet and bitter taste. Another project uses an intensely sweet protein to increase our understanding on how sweet compounds stimulate our taste buds. The related question on how this message from the taste buds is coded has been another focus of our research.

Publications

• Danilova, V., and Hellekant, G., The taste of ethanol in a primate model II: Glossopharyngeal nerve response in Macaca mulatta. Alcohol. 2000. 21, 259-269.
• Hellekant, G., Jin, Z., and Ming, D., Brazzein. Leatherhead handbook on Sweeteners. 2000. 2, 181-185.
• Neira, M., Danilova, V., Hellekant, G., and Azen, E. A., A new gene (rmSTG) specific for taste buds found by laser capture microdissection. Mamm Genome. 2001. 12. 60-66.
• Danilova V., Danilov, Y., Roberts T., Elmer, D., and Hellekant G. Electrophysiological recordings of mammalian taste nerves. In: Methods and frontiers in neuroscience. Simon, S., Nicolelis, M. (Eds). CRC Press. Boca Raton, London, New York, Washington DC. 2001. 239-264
• Hellekant, G., Coding in peripheral taste nerves of rhesus, Macaca mulatta, chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes and Common Marmoset, Callithrix jachus jachus. In Neuronal coding of perceptual systems. Backhaus, W., (Ed). Vol 9 - Biophysics In Series on Biophysics and Biocybernetics. World Scientific Publishing Comp. 2001. 9, 287-291.
• Danilova , V., Hellekant, G., Oral sensation of ethanol in a primate model III.: Responses in the lingual branch of the trigeminal nerve of Macaca mulatta. Alcohol. 2002. 26, 3-16.
• Danilova, V., Danilov, Y, Roberts, T. Tinti, J-M., Nofre, C., and Hellekant, G., The sense of taste in a New World monkey, the common marmoset: recordings from the chorda tympani and glossopharyngeal nerves.. J. Neurophysiology. 2002. 88, 579-594.
• He, W., Danilova, V.,Zou, S., Hellekant, G., Max, M., Margolskee, R. F.,Damak, S. Partial Rescue of Taste Responses of alpha-Gustducin Null Mice by Transgenic Expression of alpha-Transducin. Chem. Senses. 2002, 27, 719-727.
• Danilova, V., Hellekant, G., Comparison of the responses of the chorda tympani and glossopharyngeal nerves to taste stimuli in C57BL/6J mice. BMC Neuroscience. 2003. 4:5.
• Jin Z., Danilova V., Assadi-Porter F. M., Aceti D. J. , Markley J. L. and Hellekant G.Critical Regions for the Sweet Taste of Brazzein. FEBs letter. 2003. 544, 33-37.
• Jin Z., Danilova V., Assadi-Porter F. M., Aceti D. J. , Markley J. L. and Hellekant G. Monkey electropohysiological and human psychophysical responses to the sweet protein brazzein: Delineating brazzein sweetness. Chem. Senses. 2003. 28, 491-498.

Problems or questions regarding this web site? Contact ahabs_webmaster@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu
© 1997-2004, AHABS