Overview
- Researchers assessed 28 non-hospitalized people with taste disturbances more than a year after COVID-19, with taste-bud biopsies obtained from 20 participants.
- Quantitative tests and molecular analyses found markedly reduced PLCβ2 mRNA in taste cells that mediate sweet, bitter and umami, while salty and sour were largely preserved.
- Waterless Empirical Taste Test results showed clearly abnormal scores in 8 participants, and 11 reported selective loss of PLCβ2-dependent tastes.
- Histology showed generally intact taste-bud structure and innervation with occasional disorganized buds and unusual isolated PLCβ2-positive cells.
- The peer-reviewed findings in Chemical Senses highlight a plausible peripheral mechanism, with no established treatment yet and a need for replication and studies on reversibility and targeted therapies.