Towards the role of saliva in sensoriality and introduction to analytical practices

Taste is the sensory image produced by the brain when it receives information from the 5 senses. Sight, hearing, smell and touch provide the first signals and then, when the food is put in the mouth, many factors related to the individual modulate his or her taste perception. These include Food Oral Processing, physiology and biology of the oral cavity. Saliva is the first biological fluid to come into contact with the food during the initiation of this process where it plays a mechanical and biochemical role. Its secretion and composition influence the taste, smell signals and the sensations that are generated and interpreted during the phase when the food is transformed into a food bolus. The study of saliva means to investigate the dynamic of the secreted oral fluid considering the oral ecosystem in basal condition or during sensory stimulation. The combination of the obtained results provides a wealth of information that allows a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of chemosensory perception. The development of sampling and analysis protocols accompanies the study of new research hypotheses concerning the fundamental mechanisms and the exploitation of the results for applications. (C) 2021 Societe francaise de nutrition. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.