Sensory Science and Metabolism; Molecular and Neuronal Mechanisms

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The Sensory Science and Metabolism (SenSMet) laboratory at NINR/NIAAA conducts translation and clinical inpatient and outpatient studies. Active collaborations to investigate areas of common interest in nutrition, taste, and obesity have been undertaken. Specifically, double-blind clinical protocols for which sensory phenotyping measures have been implemented in collaboration with Dr. Gibbons (NIHGRI) and Dr. Hall (NIDDK) continue. In addition, new collaborations develop as follow: a) to investigate neuronal mechanisms in obesity; b) to investigate multi-sensory alterations in AUD/OUD participants, c) to investigate how taste and smell are affected with COVID-19. 1. Microbiome and Metabolites Metabolic Profiling of Blood and Urine for Exploring the Functional Role of the Microbiota in Human Health. Led by Ana Diallo.The quantification of metabolites in blood and urine allows nurses to explore new hypotheses about the microbiome. This review summarizes findings from recent studies with a focus on how the state of the science can influence future nursing research initiatives. Metabolomics can advance nursing research by identifying physiologic/pathophysiologic processes underlying patients' symptoms and can be useful for testing the effects of nursing interventions. To date, metabolomics has been used to study cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, autoimmune, and infectious conditions, with research focused on understanding the microbial metabolism of substrates resulting in circulating/excreted biomarkers such as trimethylamine N-oxide. This review provides specific recommendations for the collection of specimens and goals for future studies (Diallo et al., 2020). The influence of obesity-derived illness on the adipose tissue metabolism: an untargeted metabolomic approach. Led by Carlotta Vizioli, Rosario Jaime-Lara, Alexis Franks and Rodrigo Ortiz-Figueroa: Obesity plays a major role in the development of insulin resistance (IR), diabetes (T2DM), and nephropathies. Increased adipose tissue (AT) is of particular interest because it activates a chronic inflammatory response in adipocytes and other tissues. The first project was a comparison between obese-diabetics and obese-non-diabetics in bariatric surgery patients. Our untargeted metabolomic analyses revealed slight metabolite differences between obese-diabetics and obese-non-diabetics subjects; suggesting that obesity may influence SAT metabolism masking T2DM dependent dysregulation. The second project was a comparison between bariatric surgery patients and kidney transplant recipients, which revealed significant differences between the kidney transplant recipients and the bariatric surgery patients, being the amino acid and lipid metabolic pathways the most affected. Kidney transplant recipients vs. bariatric surgery patients: diabetics vs. non-diabetics. The study has been expanded to include matched demographic samples from diabetic subjects. The analyses are ongoing. The successful identification and application of this knowledge could contribute to our understanding of the metabolic pathophysiology of T2DM and kidney chronic disease in obese populations. These projects could contribute to our understanding of the metabolic pathophysiology of T2DM ( Vizioli et al., 2020). Metabolite Profiling in Healthy Children Following Probiotic Consumption. Led by Alexis Franks. This study examines metabolomic alterations in healthy children following probiotic consumption. Results are pending. 2. Sensory Systems: Gustation Taste Differences Among People with Eating Disorders. In collaboration with Dr. Ariana Chao, our team looked at alterations in taste with eating disorders. This systematic review examined research assessing taste differences, measured both psychophysically and with neuroimaging techniques, across individuals with eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder). The results yielded differences in taste perception among eating disorder groups. For example, psychophysical studies revealed individuals with bulimia nervosa had greater preferences for sweet substances compared to controls. Additionally, results illuminated inconsistencies in methodologies in studies examining taste and eating behaviors (Chao, Roy, Franks, Joseph, 2019). Co-Occurring Gastrointestinal Symptoms Are Associated with Taste Changes in Oncology Patients Receiving Chemotherapy. Led by Drs. Alissa Nolden and Paule Joseph and collaborators at UCSF. This study examines the frequency, severity, and distress of patient-reported changes in the way food tastes (CFT) and correlates them with phenotypic and GI symptoms in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Results found that a high percentage of patients, who reported CTF, had frequent occurrence of GI symptoms. Analysis showed that most of the GI symptoms, including constipation, diarrhea, cramps, and bloating, had increased odds of developing in patients with CFT. Conclusions express the importance of including the assessment of CFT in the cancer patient care process. It suggests that future studies should include study this correlation over the entire course of chemotherapy treatment and recommends that molecular mechanisms should be examined to ultimately understand how CFT and GI symptoms can influence dietary behaviors and nutritional status (Nolden, Joseph...et al., 2019). Taste changes and molecular signatures in cancer patients. Led by Paule Joseph in collaboration with Chris Miaskowski and Kord Kober from UCSF: Dietary habits are mostly governed by oro-sensory detection. Changes in taste perception are important in diseases such cancer. In this study we will examine miRNA and protein oncology patients. Study is in progress. 3. Obesity and Nutrition Gene co-expression networks are associated with obesity-related traits: Led by Rosario Jaime-Lara and Abe Roy: Obesity is common among kidney transplant recipients; However biological mediators of obesity are not well understood in this population. Because subcutaneous adipose tissue can be easily obtained during kidney transplant surgery, it provides a unique avenue for studying the mechanisms of obesity for this group. Although differential gene expression patterns were previously profiled for kidney transplant patients, gene co-expression patterns can shed light on gene modules not yet explored on the coordinative behaviors of gene transcription in biological and disease processes from a systems perspective. In this study, we collected and clinical variables and matching microarray expression data for 26 kidney transplant patients. We conducted Weighted Gene Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA) and related gene co-expression to clinical traits. Our study generated gene co-expression modules associated with obesity-related traits in kidney transplant patients and provided new insights regarding the cellular biological processes underlying obesity in this population. (Jaime-Lara et al., 2020) 4. Taste, smell and COVID-19 Since the reports of sudden taste and smell changes as a symptom of COVID-19, we began collaborations intramural (Usdin, NIMH; Warner, NIDCR; Ramachandani, NIAAA) and extramural (Overdevest, Columbia) during the pandemic where we added questionnaires to investigate how taste and smell is affected by SARS-CoV-2 and samples from deceased COVID-19 patients for further investigation. Role of Olfaction in Human Health: A Focus on Coronaviruses Led by Rosario Jaime-Lara: The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by increasing reports of smell and taste impairment in patients infected by its etiologic agent, SARS-CoV-2. An increasing number of studies and more recently a meta-analysis have supported these rep)orts. These sensory changes may hold important implications for the diagnosis and management of COVID-19. (Jaime-Lara et al., 2020