Comparative proteomic analysis of human whole saliva of children with protein-energy undernutrition

Chronic malnutrition and oral health status in children aged 1 to 5 years: An observational study

To evaluate the effect of chronic malnutrition on the oral health of children aged 1 to 5 years.An observational, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted and involved 82 children (12-71 months of age). Nutritional status was evaluated using anthropometric indicators and oral health status/caries prevalence was measured. Non-stimulated saliva was collected and flow rate and buffering capacity was measured.The mean dmft index was 1.38 for the adequately nourished children, 3.04 for those with mild malnutrition, 2.5 for those with moderate malnutrition and 2.4 for those with severe malnutrition. 69 of the 82 children had low to very low buffering capacity. No significant differences among the groups were found between malnutrition and age, buffering capacity or the dmft index (P > .05). However, significant differences in salivary flow were found among the different malnutrition categories (P < .05). Spearman correlation coefficient revealed a weak negative correlation between nutrition and salivary flow (r = -0.267).Malnutrition exerts a negative impact on the oral cavity of children and a reduction in salivary flow rate was observed with the increase in malnutrition. Diagnosing the effects of malnutrition in oral environment of children is important because it could improve the quality of life and give them an adequate treatment.

sRANKL and its correlation with metabolic syndrome parameters in children

BACKGROUND

Activating receptor ligand for nuclear factor (RANKL) has been identified as a ligand attached to the cell membrane of osteoblasts and odontoclasts.

AIM

To determine a possible association of sRANKL in saliva and serum with the parameters of metabolic syndrome (MS) in paediatric population aged 8-12 years.

DESIGN

This was a clinical, analytical and comparative study. Students between 6 and 12 years with good oral hygiene were included. Anthropometry, clinical analysis, dentobacterial plaque registration were registered as well as sRANKL in total saliva and serum through the ELISA technique.

RESULTS

A total of 43 children were enrolled, with a mean age of 9.7 (±0.8 years). Contrasting the groups by the presence or absence of the waist circumference above the normal limit, the difference in serum sRANKL concentration was statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05). A negative statistical significance was found in the correlation between serum sRANKL and HDLc (r²  = -0.310, P = 0.046). Saliva sRANKL did not show statistical difference between neither gender nor body mass index and was not correlated with any parameter of the MS.

CONCLUSIONS

A good oral hygiene seems to avoid the effects of MS on the oral cavity.

Salivary Diagnostics in Pediatrics: Applicability, Translatability, and Limitations

In the last decade, technological advances, combined with an improved appreciation of the ability of saliva to inform caregivers about both oral health and systemic disease, have led to the emergence of salivary diagnostic platforms. However, the majority of these assays have targeted diseases that more commonly affect the adult population, largely neglecting infants and children who arguably could benefit the most from non-invasive assessment tools for health monitoring. Gaining access into development, infection, and disease through comprehensive "omic" analyses of saliva could significantly improve care and enhance health access. In this review, we will highlight novel applications of salivary diagnostics in pediatrics across the "omic" spectrum, including at the genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, microbiomic, and metabolomic level. The challenges to implementing salivary platforms into care, including the effects of age, diet, and developmental stage on salivary components, will be reviewed. Ultimately, large-scale, multicenter trials must be performed to establish normative biomarker values across the age spectrum to accurately discriminate between health and disease. Only then can salivary diagnostics truly translate into pediatric care.

Advances of Proteomic Sciences in Dentistry

Applications of proteomics tools revolutionized various biomedical disciplines such as genetics, molecular biology, medicine, and dentistry. The aim of this review is to highlight the major milestones in proteomics in dentistry during the last fifteen years. Human oral cavity contains hard and soft tissues and various biofluids including saliva and crevicular fluid. Proteomics has brought revolution in dentistry by helping in the early diagnosis of various diseases identified by the detection of numerous biomarkers present in the oral fluids. This paper covers the role of proteomics tools for the analysis of oral tissues. In addition, dental materials proteomics and their future directions are discussed.

Progressive Changes in the Plasma Metabolome during Malnutrition in Juvenile Pigs

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is one of the leading nutrition-related causes of death in children under five years of age. The clinical features of SAM are well documented, but a comprehensive understanding of the development from a normal physiological state to SAM is lacking. Characterizing the temporal metabolomic change may help to understand the disease progression and to define nutritional rehabilitation strategies. Using a piglet model we hypothesized that a progressing degree of malnutrition induces marked plasma metabolite changes. Four-week-old weaned pigs were fed a nutrient-deficient maize diet (MAL) or nutritionally optimized reference diet (REF) for 7 weeks. Plasma collected weekly was subjected to LC-MS for a nontargeted profiling of metabolites with abundance differentiation. The MAL pigs showed markedly reduced body-weight gain and lean-mass proportion relative to the REF pigs. Levels of eight essential and four nonessential amino acids showed a time-dependent deviation in the MAL pigs from that in the REF. Choline metabolites and gut microbiomic metabolites generally showed higher abundance in the MAL pigs. The results demonstrated that young malnourished pigs had a profoundly perturbed metabolism, and this provides basic knowledge about metabolic changes during malnourishment, which may be of help in designing targeted therapeutic foods for refeeding malnourished children.