Oral Sphere: Salivary Markers and Food. A Prospective Study in Children Expressing Oral Disorders
Condition: Oral Disorder
MeSH terms: Mouth Diseases
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      In Human, the oral sphere is the first and main place where sensory stimuli are received and
      perceived. The phenomena occuring during food breakdown and sensory perception are complex
      and in this system saliva plays a major role.

      In the neonatal period, severe digestive diseases require the cessation of all oral feeding
      and the use of enteral or parenteral nutrition for prolonged periods to ensure the growth and
      development of children while their disease is active. The early stages of sensory oral
      exposures and their consequences on the development of eating habits of these children are
      poorly documented. It is likely that the process of acquisition of preferences and eating
      habits is atypical because of a "bypass" of the oral sphere during the early stages of
      feeding. Thus, if not orally fed, children do not get exposed to a wide variety of tastes and
      textures in the first year of life, which may impact on their oral acceptance at a later age.
      These oral disorders (OD) are expressed by a refusal to eat, a heightened gag reflex, a
      refusal of certain consistencies and difficulties in chewing and swallowing. Few data are
      available on food typically accepted by these children.

      Finally, oral sensory phenotypes of OD children (gustatory sensitivity ...) have not been
      described yet. It is likely that they may differ significantly from those of healthy (NOD).

      In this context, a population of OD children is particularly interesting for studying the
      effects of the absence of these learning stages and their consequences in the development of
      sensory perception and eating habits.

      The investigators formulate the hypothesis that the lack of exposure to a standard oral diet
      would modify the development of their "oro-sensory systems" including saliva.

      Studying such a population is a great opportunity to assess the influence of non oral food
      exposures and diet on saliva characteristics.

      Saliva has recently received attention as a potential easy to collect source of biomarkers in
      several conditions excluding OD.

      The potential impact of OD on salivary composition has never been studied. Several studies
      linking saliva and perception or preferences have been conducted in the UMR CSGA (Unité Mixte
      de Recherche du Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation). They have already
      contributed to highlight the great inter-individual variability for a number of saliva
      markers and a change in saliva protein profiles in response to taste stimulation They also
      underlined the remarkable intra-stability for saliva flow and composition during a one year
      study.

      This study intends to prove the concept that it is relevant to relate saliva characteristics
      to food intake behaviour or food habits The first hypothesis to be tested in this study is
      that salivary profiles (biological signatures) can discriminate two groups of children
      differing by their orality.

      The second hypothesis to be tested is that these specific biological biological signatures
      may be correlated to certain food habits associated or not with oral disorders.
    


Intervention name(s): Taking of saliva before and after gustatory stimulation
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Taking of saliva before and after gustatory stimulation (3 drops of citric acid 2.4 g / L)
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Other
Keywords: Oral disorders