Re: Do taste buds die?

Dear Ross,
   You have asked an interesting question.  If you look at your tongue in 
the mirror, you may see occasional red spots where the covering cells have 
been damaged or rubbed off by food.  These areas will regenerate, and most 
often do NOT contain many taste buds.  Taste buds are most abundant in the 
back part of the tongue, on circular projections called circumvallate 
papillae.  They, too, can regenerate if damaged.  Curiously, the presence 
of taste buds in the covering epithelium of the tongue is dependent upon 
the presence of NERVE fibers.  Nerve fibers apparently secrete some unknown 
substance that causes epithelial cells to turn into taste cells.  It is 
only recently that the cell proteins on these cells that bind tasty things 
and signal the sense of taste have been discovered.  For more information 
on taste buds, see the magazine Science News vol. 157, p. 196 (March 25, 
2000) and the scientific journal Journal of Cell Biology vol. 27, p. 263, 
1965.