Final answer:
Taste receptors are located within taste buds on the tongue's surface and detect different tastes when food chemicals bind to them, leading to nerve impulses being sent to the CNS.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Taste Receptor Cells
The taste receptors for sensing different tastes in the human mouth are located on the tongue within structures known as taste buds. These taste buds can be seen on the tongue's surface as small bumps called papillae. Within each taste bud, there are specialized gustatory cells which interact with taste pores that allow chemicals from the food we eat to make contact with these receptors. When food molecules, particularly those for sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami tastes, bind with the gustatory cells, this interaction generates nerve impulses. These impulses then travel through afferent nerves to the central nervous system (CNS) for processing, which leads to perception of taste.
Tastes like salty and sour are triggered by cations such as Na+ and H+, respectively. Other tastes arise from different food molecules binding to G protein-coupled receptors located on these taste receptor cells. Sweet receptors, for example, can be activated by various sugars like glucose, fructose, or artificial sweeteners, because they bind to these G protein-coupled receptors.