Admittedly, fat is a dietitian's worst enemy. However, food lipids supply certain fatty acids essential to human health, not to mention that they are the source of unforgettable taste pleasure. Understandably, the lipids are the focus of the Nutrition Physiology team headed by Philippe Besnard at INSERM Unit 866, 'Lipids Nutrition Cancer'. Their research could clear the way for a new gustatory method dedicated to lipids. For agribusiness and the pharmaceutical industry, this holds the promise of new applications.
The Fascinating CD36 Molecule
Not so long ago, research on the oral perception of lipids was still confined to a small circle of researchers worldwide. However, over the past years research studies have increased especially in Japan, the pioneer in the field with Torhu Fushiki's team at Kyoto University, and in the United States, thanks to the studies conducted by Richard Mattes' team at the Food and Nutrition Department at Purdue University. "He recently showed that there is an oro-sensory perception of food lipids in humans," explained Philippe Besnard whose team has been working on the intestinal absorption of lipids for a long time. Several years ago, it decided jointly with the Dijon Centre des Sciences du Goût (CSG, Center for Taste Sciences) to broaden the topic to include the oral perception of lipids as both aspects keep overlapping.
Today the team with a staff of twelve is focusing its work on CD36, a molecule that the researchers call a "receiver/transporter". The researchers found the molecule, which was isolated in fatty tissue for the first time, in the intestine and more recently in the taste buds of mice. "CD36 plays a singular part, i.e., a gustatory lipid-receiver," exclaimed Philippe Besnard who then added, "What is fascinating is that lingual CD36 plays an important part in food behavior. It is involved in the spontaneous preference for fat, in mice." So the teams conducted studies to understand how the protein works either on the tongue, intestine, and brain. It has initiated a project dubbed "SensoFAT", which has been certified by the Vitagora competitive cluster and funded by ANR (the French national research agency).
Numerous International Collaborations
As part of the project, two theses are underway. One, which was launched in September 2007, is financed by the Ministry for Higher Education and Research. The other, funded by ANR, started in early 2008. "What happens in the brain? How does this work in humans? Those are the two burning questions we'll have to answer," summed up the research team leader. So that the bold program can find the answers it is looking for, the team, which does not have all the required skills, has called on other researchers. A collaborative consortium has been set up with four other French teams: Naïm Kahn's team at Bourgogne University, Christophe Magnan's at Paris VII University, Philippe Frogel's at the Lille Pasteur Institute, and Gilles Mithieux's at Lyons I University.
Meanwhile, the team has developed numerous international collaborations to address the role of CD36 in the intestine. Other similar collaborations with laboratories on the cutting edge of lingual CD36 in humans may be planned soon. "If we manage to prove that humans have the same CD36-dependent oro-sensory system as the system that detects food lipids in animals, and that it also plays a part in human food choices, specifically for fatty acids, it becomes feasible to imagine the development of receiver agonists and antagonists to act on this behavior and fight obesity," he said. But Philippe Besnard immediately put a damper on our enthusiasm by admitting that this scenario is still more science fiction than fact. "Nevertheless, if we have the required resources, we can move ahead fast," he concluded.
Laboratoire de Physiologie de la Nutrition (INSERM/Ensbana, Laboratory of Nutrition Physiology) - Laboratory of Nutrition Physiology - Philippe Besnard - email: Philippe.Besnard@u-bourgogne.fr
