The sense of taste is essential for priming food preferences and is therefore important for caloric uptake and body weight regulation. Recent studies show that obesity is linked to changes in taste sensation but also to a loss of taste buds on the tongue. This study aims to evaluate underlying mechanisms within the taste buds to potentially influence the sense of taste on the level of these sensory cells and in order to develop new treatment strategies to fight obesity.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
210
Taste buds will be surgically removed a) during a planned and medically induced elective surgery under full anesthesia; b) by local anesthesia in subjects without a medically induced surgery
75g glucose will be applied in drinking water following blood sample collection to evaluate glucose, insulin and C-peptide level.
Subjects are given taste strips with 4 concentrations per each taste quality of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami in a pseudo-randomized manner. Subjects are asked to identify the taste quality, state the intensity, preference and certainty.
Medical Clinic III, Division of Endocrinology, University Clinic of Leipzig
Leipzig, Saxony, Germany
RECRUITINGIdentification of differential gene and protein regulation in isolated human taste cells between lean and obese subjects
Transcriptomics (RNAsequencing (seq), single cell seq) and epigenomics (open chromatin mapping (ATACseq), Infinium MethylationEPIC Array) will be performed in isolated papillae fungiformes. Validation analyses by in vitro primary cell cultures of taste cell biopsy
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 2 years
Identification of correlations between taste cell biology with parameters of intervention
corrleation analyses will include factors of eating behavior, food preferences, life style factors, data from taste and smell screenings, anthropometric data, blood and saliva parameters
Time frame: 1 year
Differences of salivary and tongue microbiome on taste cells in obesity in contrast to lean
whole mouth saliva as well as local tongue microbiome diversity will be analysed by 16S ribosomal RNA seq and related to further parameters of this study.
Time frame: 2 years
extracellular vesicle analyses of saliva in lean and obese subjects
The content of extracellular vesicles from saliva samples will be analysed and compared between the study groups as well as related to other parameters of this study.
Time frame: 2 years
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Subjects will be presented 16 different sniffing sticks in a randomized order, each for about 4seconds. People are then asked to identify the smell by choosing one out of 4 options (forced choice).
The number of taste buds on the anterior tongue will be determined by colouring the tongue surface with food colour. Taste buds will apply more reddish as compared to non-taste tissue. Based on a digital photography the number of taste buds per subjects is counted manually.
Anthropometric data collection will include measures of body height, body weight, arm-, upper- and lower leg circumferences, waist- and hip circumferences and a bioimpedance analysis to obtain data about body composition.
Blood and saliva samples will be taken as well as a tongue swab.
Through the use of several questionnaires, data about eating behavior, food preferences, life style factors and other will be obtained.