Single-centre Descriptive Study of Taste in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Through the Analysis of Taste Evoked Potentials (FRONTAL-PEG)

University Hospital Center (CHU) Dijon Bourgogne

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD)

Treatments: Other: Nutritional assessment; Other: Interrogation of the subject; Other: Taste tests; Biological: Blood test; Other: Cognitive assessment; Other: Sucrose taste detection test

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07110207

JACQUIN 2025

Details and patient eligibility

About

The FRONTAL-PEG study focuses on taste perception in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). This neurodegenerative disease, characterised by progressive loss of nerve cells, is the second leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

Patients with FTLD often experience olfactory disorders (= sense of smell) and eating disorders: increased appetite, increased food intake and excessive consumption of sugary foods and snacking. This often leads to excessive weight gain. These eating disorders are still poorly understood at present.

In this context, we hypothesise that an alteration in the gustatory pathway - i.e. the way in which the brain perceives taste - could contribute to the eating disorders frequently observed in frontotemporal dementia (FTD), particularly in the marked attraction to sweet foods. We therefore wish to objectively evaluate the taste response to a sweet solution (sucrose) in patients with FTLD, using taste evoked potentials (TEPs). Taste evoked potentials are a reliable and reproducible technique for assessing brain activity in response to taste stimulation. One of their advantages is that they are non-invasive.

This study will document, for the first time in this disease, the characteristics of cortical (brain) processing of taste information.

The FRONTAL-PEG study is an interventional, regional, single-centre study conducted at the Dijon University Hospital, in collaboration with the CMRR (Memory, Resources and Research Centre) and the CSGA (Centre for Taste and Food Sciences).

All investigations are carried out at the CSGA (building adjacent to the Dijon University Hospital), with the exception of blood tests, which are carried out at the Dijon University Hospital.

The total duration of participation in the study is one morning. No follow-up is planned at the end of the study.

Enrollment: 20 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Person who has given their free and informed consent
• Person of legal age
• Fasting > 2 hours before PEG measurement
• Body Mass Index (BMI) < 30 kg/m² (according to medical record data)
• DLFT: diagnostic criteria for established or probable DLFT

Exclusion criteria

• Persons not affiliated with or not covered by a social security scheme
• Persons subject to legal protection measures (guardianship, trusteeship)
• Persons subject to judicial protection measures
• Pregnant women, women in labour or breastfeeding women
• MMSE score < 15 and/or MoCA score < 10
• Known COVID-19 infection within 6 months prior to inclusion
• Active smokers (> 4 cigarettes per day on a regular basis)
• Subject with a pacemaker (contraindication for bioelectrical impedance analysis)
• Subject with diabetes (type 1 or type 2)
• Taking medication (during the study) that interferes with taste

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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20 participants in 1 patient group

Patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Experimental group

Treatment:

Other: Sucrose taste detection test

Other: Cognitive assessment

Biological: Blood test

Other: Taste tests

Other: Interrogation of the subject

Other: Nutritional assessment