Sexual Dimorphism of Human Vallate Papillae – A Human Cadaveric Study of Normative Morphology

The vallate papillae, or circumvallate papillae, are located at the posterior dorsum of the tongue, which form a V‐shaped row immediately anterior to the sulcus terminalis. Normally, the vallate papillae are surrounded by a vallum, a small mound of tissues, which creates a sulcus (or trench) around the papilla. The inner surface of the vallum houses approximately half of the taste buds located within the tongue, which plays an important role in bitter taste perception and biased food selection. Biased food selection and differences in eating behavior, in general, have been linked to sex differences, and numerous studies have noted differences in taste perception between males and females, especially with regard to bitter taste. Previous research within our laboratory demonstrated that females (aged 18–26) possess a higher number of vallate papillae than their male counterparts, based upon endoscopic examination of the tongues of 79 individuals (40 females, 39 males). Furthermore, males were found to have a larger mean vallate papillae diameter than their female peers, demonstrating that vallate papillae are sexually dimorphic at the gross anatomical level. To expand upon this in vivo study, 103 human cadaveric tongues were dissected at West Virginia University, with approval of the West Virginia Anatomical Board, in order to identify, photograph, count, and measure the perimeter of the 1,069 individual vallate papillae present. The resulting data has implications for the understanding of biased food selection among sexes. Support or Funding Information WV Research Challenge Fund [HEPC.dsr.14.13]; WVU Initiation to Research Opportunities (INTRO) Summer Research program