Dr. Alan C. Spector

Research Interest

Neural basis of gustation, animal psychophysics, sensory processes, regulation of ingestive behavior, taste preferences and aversions.

Current Projects

• Assessment of taste function in mice with genetic deletions of taste receptors.
• Analysis of function following transection and regeneration of gustatory nerves.
• Evaluation of taste function following targeted damage in central gustatory structures.

Publications

• Spector AC, Glendinning JI. Linking peripheral taste processes to behavior. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 19(4):370-7. (2009)
• Treesukosol Y, Blonde GD, Spector AC. T1R2 and T1R3 subunits are individually unnecessary for normal affective licking responses to Polycose: implications for saccharide taste receptors in mice. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 296(4):R855-65. (2009)
• Breslin PA, Spector AC. Mammalian taste perception. Curr Biol. 18(4):R148-55. (2008)
• King CT, Garcea M, Stolzenberg DS, Spector AC. Experimentally cross-wired lingual taste nerves can restore normal unconditioned gaping behavior in response to quinine stimulation. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 294(3):R738-47. (2008)
• Grobe CL, Spector AC. Constructing quality profiles for taste compounds in rats: a novel paradigm. Physiol Behav. 95(3):413-24. (2008)
• Jiang E, Blonde G, Garcea M, Spector AC. Greater superficial petrosal nerve transection in rats does not change unconditioned licking responses to putatively sweet taste stimuli. Chem Senses. 33(8):709-23. (2008)
• Treesukosol Y, Lyall V, Heck GL, DeSimone JA, Spector AC. A psychophysical and electrophysiological analysis of salt taste in Trpv1 null mice. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 292(5):R1799-809. (2007)
• Geran LC, Spector AC. Amiloride-insensitive units of the chorda tympani nerve are necessary for normal ammonium chloride detectability in the rat. Behav Neurosci. 121(4):779-85. (2007)
• Dotson CD, Spector AC. Behavioral discrimination between sucrose and other natural sweeteners in mice: implications for the neural coding of T1R ligands. J Neurosci. 27(42):11242-53. (2007)
• Blonde GD, Garcea M, Spector AC. The relative effects of transection of the gustatory branches of the seventh and ninth cranial nerves on NaCl taste detection in rats. Behav Neurosci. 120(3):580-9. (2006)
• Spector AC. The functional consequences of gustatory nerve regeneration as assessed behaviorally in a rat model. Chem Senses. 30 Suppl 1:i66-7. (2005)
• Glendinning JI, Bloom LD, Onishi M, Zheng KH, Damak S, Margolskee RF, Spector AC. Contribution of alpha-gustducin to taste-guided licking responses of mice. Chem Senses. 30(4):299-316. (2005)
• Eylam S, Spector AC. Taste discrimination between NaCl and KCl is disrupted by amiloride in inbred mice with amiloride-insensitive chorda tympani nerves. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 288(5):R1361-8. (2005)
• Dotson CD, Spector AC. Drinking spout orifice size affects licking behavior in inbred mice. Physiol Behav. 85(5):655-61. (2005)
• Eylam S, Moore M, Haskell-Luevano C, Spector AC. Melanocortin-4 receptor-null mice display normal affective licking responses to prototypical taste stimuli in a brief-access test. Peptides. 26(10):1712-9. (2005)
• Dotson CD, Roper SD, Spector AC. PLCbeta2-independent behavioral avoidance of prototypical bitter-tasting ligands. Chem Senses. 30(7):593-600. (2005)
• Spector AC, Travers SP. The representation of taste quality in the mammalian nervous system. Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev. 4(3):143-91. (2005)
• Colbert CL, Garcea M, Spector AC. Effects of selective lingual gustatory deafferentation on suprathreshold taste intensity discrimination of NaCl in rats. Behav Neurosci. 118(6):1409-17. (2004)
• Geran LC, Garcea M, Spector AC. Nerve regeneration-induced recovery of quinine avoidance after complete gustatory deafferentation of the tongue. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 287(5):R1235-43. (2004)
• Eylam S, Spector AC. Stimulus processing of glycine is dissociable from that of sucrose and glucose based on behaviorally measured taste signal detection in Sac 'taster' and 'non-taster' mice. Chem Senses. 29(7):639-49. (2004)