Study on causes of reduced umami sensitivity

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15850
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Social dentistry
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Sasano Takashi 東北大学, 歯学研究科, 教授 (10125560)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 菅原 俊二 東北大学, 歯学研究科, 教授 (10241639) ; 市川 博之 東北大学, 歯学研究科, 教授 (20193435) ; 佐藤 しづ子 東北大学, 歯学研究科, 助教 (60225274) ; 庄司 憲明 東北大学, 大学病院, 講師 (70250800) ; 飯久保 正弘 東北大学, 歯学研究科, 講師 (80302157)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 味覚障害 / 味覚検査 / 味覚受容体遺伝子解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Quantitative measurement of glutamate in saliva using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and quantitative analysis of umami receptor genes expression by real-time PCR method were performed to determine the cause of reduced umami sensitivity. As a result, the amount of glutamate in saliva in patients with reduced umami sensitivity had a tendency to be lower than that in subjects with normal umami sensitivity. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the expression levels of the umami receptor genes expression between patients with reduced umami sensitivity and healthy subjects. These results suggested that reduced umami sensitivity could be related to the amount of glutamate in saliva.

Free Research Field

口腔診断学