Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, 1142 Auckland, New Zealand.
Neonatal Unit, Kidz First, Middlemore Hospital, 2025 Auckland, New Zealand.
Nutrients. 2021 Jan 25;13(2):350. doi: 10.3390/nu13020350.
Smell and taste of food can trigger physiological responses facilitating digestion and metabolism of nutrients. Controlled experimental studies in preterm babies have demonstrated that smell activates the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) but none have investigated the effect of taste stimulation. Using cotside Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), we measured changes in OFC cerebral oxygenation in response to gastric tube feeds five and 10 days after birth in 53 assessments of 35 moderate- to late-preterm babies enrolled in a randomized trial. Babies were randomly assigned to receive smell and taste of milk before gastric tube feeds (intervention group, = 16) or no exposure (control group, = 19). The majority of babies were born at 33 weeks of gestation (range 32-34) and 69% were boys. No differences in OFC cerebral oxygenation were observed between control and intervention groups. Gastric tube feeds induced activation of the OFC ( < 0.05), but sensory stimulation alone with smell and taste did not. Boys, but not girls, showed activation of the OFC following exposure to smell of milk ( = 0.01). The clinical impact of sensory stimulation prior to tube feeds on nutrition of preterm babies, as well as the impact of environmental inputs on cortical activation, remains to be determined.
食物的气味和味道可以引发生理反应，促进营养物质的消化和代谢。对早产儿的控制性实验研究表明，嗅觉可以激活眶额皮层（OFC），但尚无研究探讨味觉刺激的影响。本研究使用床边近红外光谱（NIRS），在 35 名中晚期早产儿随机对照试验的 53 次评估中，测量了出生后 5 天和 10 天经胃管喂养时，OFC 脑氧合变化。婴儿被随机分配在接受胃管喂养前接受奶的气味和味觉刺激（干预组，n = 16）或不暴露（对照组，n = 19）。大多数婴儿在 33 周（范围 32-34）时出生，69%为男孩。对照组和干预组之间 OFC 脑氧合无差异。胃管喂养诱导了 OFC 的激活（<0.05），但仅通过嗅觉和味觉进行的感官刺激并没有激活 OFC。接受牛奶气味刺激的男孩（n = 0.01）而非女孩表现出 OFC 的激活。在管饲前进行感官刺激对早产儿营养的临床影响，以及环境输入对皮质激活的影响，仍有待确定。
