Oral sphere: salivary markers and food. A prospective study on children expressing oral disorders. – ORALISENS

In Human, the oral sphere is the first and main place where food sensory stimuli are released and perceived. The phenomena occurring during food breakdown and sensory perception are complex and in this system saliva plays a major role. In the last ten years, the increasing researches on human saliva revealed the extreme complexity of this biological fluid, in terms of protein and small molecules composition. As such, saliva may carry the biological signature of an individual. Related to food, the objective of ORALISENS is to evaluate whether this biological signature is established during early oral exposition to food and whether it reflects the future oral sensitivity of an individual to food (measured through food choices and habits). A mean to prove this concept is to follow children who had an oral by-pass during critical phases of food behaviour development, and to evaluate its consequence on saliva composition in relation to oral food sensitivity and food behaviour. This experimental paradigm is the core of ORALISENS. As such, ORALISENS is a fundamental project presented as a proof concept. In order to reach the main ORALISENS’ objective, a multi-targeted global analysis of saliva will be conducted during one year on saliva of 20 children who had an early oral by-pass and who are currently suffering from an oral disorder. In parallel, food behaviour of these children will be studied. These children will be compared to a population of 20 children who do not suffer from oral disorder.
Three academic partners are involved in the project. They represent different disciplines and expertise (Biochemistry, Consumer science, Statistics, Medecin, Pediatric studies). The multi-targeted global analysis of saliva will consist in metabolomic, proteomic (Seldi-TOF and 2D)and peptidomic (Maldi-TOF) analyses. Additionally, more specific analyses will be conducted: physico-chemical parameters and enzymes (lipids, ions, flow, protein amount, amino-acids, lipase, amylase, protease, antioxidant capacity ...). All analyses will be done on saliva collected before and after taste stimulation. In parallel, food habits and diet will be monitored. Ultimately, a joint data analysis will correlate all the data sets generated by ORALISENS in order to identify different saliva markers related to ORALISENS' proof concept.
If successful, ORALISENS will open new perspectives in the field of researches conducted on human saliva. In particular, it will permit to propose novel approaches to study human food behaviour and to propose predictive tools and correcting strategy related to food disorders or habits.