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

August 19, 2025 updated by: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Dijon

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.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

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

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration
Biological: Blood test
Metabolic measurements and measurements of hormones related to food intake
Other: Interrogation of the subject
Collection of socio-demographic data, medical and family history, medication
Other: Cognitive assessment
MMSE and MoCA cognitive tests
Other: Nutritional assessment
Anthropometric data (weight, height, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, android/gynoid ratio, triceps skinfold thickness, brachial circumference), bioelectrical impedance analysis (body fat percentage, lean body mass, body water percentage and bone mass in kg)
Other: Taste tests
Recording of PEGs in response to a sucrose solution (prepared beforehand)
Other: Sucrose taste detection test
Triangular test

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Average latency of taste evoked potentials
Time Frame: After a fasting period of at least two hours
After a fasting period of at least two hours

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Dijon

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 18, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 31, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 31, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

August 7, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 24, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 19, 2025

Last Verified

August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • JACQUIN 2025

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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