New insights into the relationship between taste perception and oral microbiota composition. Relationship between taste perception and oral microbiota composition

Fairly poor data are available on the relationship between taste perception, food preferences, and oral microbiota. In the present study, we investigated the hypothesis that subjects with higher responsiveness to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) might be characterized by a different taste sensitivity and tongue microbiota composition. Indeed, the bacterial metabolism may modulate/enhance the concentration of tastants near the taste receptors, modifying taste perception through a sensorial adaptation mechanism or by a broad range of microbial metabolic pathways. The detection thresholds of sweet, sour, salty and bitter, the Fungiform Papillae Density (FPD) and the composition of bacteria lining the tongue were determined in Supertasters (high PROP responsiveness, ST) and Non-tasters (low PROP responsiveness, NT). An important inter-individual variability was found for all taste stimuli and FPD between the two groups, with NT subjects showing significant higher threshold values and a lower FPD than with STs. We found five bacterial genera whose relative abundances were significantly higher in STs than NTs. This study opens new avenues of research by highlighting associations between parameters usually studied independently

目前关于味觉感知、食物偏好与口腔微生物群（oral microbiota）之间关联的研究数据仍较为匮乏。本研究针对“对6-正丙基硫氧嘧啶（6-n-propylthiouracil, PROP）响应度更高的个体，其味觉敏感性与舌部微生物群组成或存在差异”这一假说展开了探究。事实上，细菌代谢可通过感官适应机制或广泛的微生物代谢途径，调节或增强味觉受体附近的呈味物质浓度，进而改变味觉感知。本研究检测了超级味觉者（Supertasters, ST，对PROP响应度高）与非味觉者（Non-tasters, NT，对PROP响应度低）的甜、酸、咸、苦四种味觉检测阈值、菌状乳头密度（Fungiform Papillae Density, FPD）以及舌面定植细菌的组成。两组受试者在所有味觉刺激与菌状乳头密度上均存在显著的个体间差异，其中NT组受试者的味觉阈值显著高于ST组，而菌状乳头密度则低于ST组。本研究还发现，有5个细菌属的相对丰度在ST组中显著高于NT组。本研究揭示了以往通常独立研究的各参数之间的关联，为相关领域开辟了新的研究方向。