The Impact of COVID-19 on Taste Loss
Wed-P2-078
Presented by: Hanna Morad
Objectives: Obtain fungiform papillae with taste buds for histological examination and molecular analysis.
Introduction: Many patients with COVID-19 report taste loss, but it is unknown if taste buds (TB) are affected. To study the impact of COVID-19 on taste loss a taste test was performed and biopsies of fungiform papillae (FP) were taken to identify morphological and molecular changes in TB of patients reporting taste loss after COVID-19 infection. The taste test includes paper strips with no taste and the five basic tastes. All 29 subjects complained about taste loss, but only 9 (31%) had an actual taste loss when tested. The patients with a pathological result were offered biopsy of their FP for analysis of the TB, while those with a normal result were asked if they wanted to participate in the control group. The results of the biopsies are awaiting; thus this poster will focus on the method of the study.
Material and method:
Taste test: Taste was tested with Waterless Empirical Taste Test by Sensonics. It contains 53 paper strips with no taste and varying concentrations of: sweet (sucrose), salt (NaCl), sour (citric acid), bitter (caffeine) and umami (monosodium glutamate). Some patients had a quality specific taste loss, e.g. for sweet only, while others had a group specific loss; e.g. type II cell taste loss: sweet, bitter and umami. None had a selective loss of salt or sour.
Biopsy: Biopsies were taken shortly after the taste test.
The tongue was anesthetized with Xylocaine spray and visualized in details by using a headlamp, and small biopsies were taken with a 3-mm scissor with a curved tip. The tongue was held steady with a gauze. The FP were cut by holding down the scissor tip below the base of the FP and were removed with a single cut. Biopsies were fixed in 4% buffered formaldehyde for subsequent histological analysis. Samples for molecular analysis were fixed in RNA later.
Results/conclusion: awaiting.
Introduction: Many patients with COVID-19 report taste loss, but it is unknown if taste buds (TB) are affected. To study the impact of COVID-19 on taste loss a taste test was performed and biopsies of fungiform papillae (FP) were taken to identify morphological and molecular changes in TB of patients reporting taste loss after COVID-19 infection. The taste test includes paper strips with no taste and the five basic tastes. All 29 subjects complained about taste loss, but only 9 (31%) had an actual taste loss when tested. The patients with a pathological result were offered biopsy of their FP for analysis of the TB, while those with a normal result were asked if they wanted to participate in the control group. The results of the biopsies are awaiting; thus this poster will focus on the method of the study.
Material and method:
Taste test: Taste was tested with Waterless Empirical Taste Test by Sensonics. It contains 53 paper strips with no taste and varying concentrations of: sweet (sucrose), salt (NaCl), sour (citric acid), bitter (caffeine) and umami (monosodium glutamate). Some patients had a quality specific taste loss, e.g. for sweet only, while others had a group specific loss; e.g. type II cell taste loss: sweet, bitter and umami. None had a selective loss of salt or sour.
Biopsy: Biopsies were taken shortly after the taste test.
The tongue was anesthetized with Xylocaine spray and visualized in details by using a headlamp, and small biopsies were taken with a 3-mm scissor with a curved tip. The tongue was held steady with a gauze. The FP were cut by holding down the scissor tip below the base of the FP and were removed with a single cut. Biopsies were fixed in 4% buffered formaldehyde for subsequent histological analysis. Samples for molecular analysis were fixed in RNA later.
Results/conclusion: awaiting.