Xerostomia in pre and post-menopause and its interface with women's oral health: investigation from bench to bedside

• Grant number: 22/12807-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Silvia Vanessa Lourenço
• Grantee: Silvia Vanessa Lourenço
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Jose Antonio Franchini Ramires ; Victor Elias Arana-Chavez
• Associated researchers: Antonio de Padua Mansur ; Christine Delporte ; Cláudia Malheiros Coutinho Camillo ; Cristina de Oliveira Massoco Salles Gomes ; Edmund Chada Baracat ; Iara Moreno Linhares ; Itamar de Souza Santos ; João Carlos Setubal ; João Renato Rebello Pinho ; José Maria Soares Junior ; José Pinhata Otoch ; Kátia Cândido Carvalho ; Marcelo Munhóes Romano ; Mônica T Veneziano Labate ; Roberta Verciano Pereira Yokogawa
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/15951-8 - Salivary glands in menopause: impacts of hypoestrogenism on microvasculature and nitric oxide metabolismo, BP.IC; 25/15595-7 - Endothelial glycocalyx in salivary glands: from morphogenesis to menopause, BP.IC; 25/12079-8 - Xerostomia in pre- and post-menopause and its interface with women's oral health: A Study on Estrogen Expression in Salivary Glands from Morphogenesis to Menopause:, BP.IC; + associated scholarships 25/03920-0 - Xerostomia in Pre- and Post-Menopause and Its Interface with Women's Oral Health: Development of an Organoid Model, Genetic and Epigenetic Analysiss, BP.PD; 25/03765-5 - Xerostomia in Pre- and Post-Menopause and Its Interface with Women's Oral Health: Clinical Observatory of Women's Oral Health and Morphological Studies, BP.PD; 25/01703-2 - Data integration and machine learning in the Women's Oral Health Observatory, BP.TT - associated scholarships

Abstract

Menopause is one of major events associated with women's ageing; it is related with multiple systemic changes, including consequences in oral health. These aspects deserve further attention, since they interfere with several aspects of women's medical, dental, psychological and social life. Xersotomia is one of the main oral cavity manifestations as a consequence of menopause; it has impacts for health and function of oral tissues and organs. The mechanisms leading to xerostomia in menopaused women remain to be unraveled and their comprehension would enable new approaches to controlling the symptoms, with beneficial impacts for patients. We propose to study the impacts of xerostomia menopaused women through the establishment of the "Clinical Women's Oral Health Observatory" (unique in Dental Schools) to evaluate the following hypothesis: the declining estrogen levels may alter aquaporins function in many tissues, including mucosa, salivary glands and vasculature; as a consequence of this possible alteration, a cascade of events leading to xerostomia would take place as a second event, leading to oral cavity dryness. This mechanism would then potentialize the effects of the chronic inflammatory status due to hypoestrogenism, which is the basis of menopause physiopathology. Thus, this investigation aims, in 60 months, to address the following problems: 1) to map the main menopause effects in women's oral health, through the installation of the "Clinical Women's Oral Health Observatory"; 2) to investigate the menopause effects in salivary glands and to understand the chronological receptors expression important for synthesis and maintenance of the glandular parechyme, using the implementation of "Artificial Inteligence";3 ) to create in vitro salivary gland models to investigate the menopause effects of salivary gland organoids; 4) to implement communication and information strategies to educate the community on the effects of menopause on the oral cavity health, including "Teleorientation and Telemonitoring". Each of these strategies will bring at least 1 innovation aspect to the project and to the field of knowledge. These will be detailed in the project's diagrams. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FLOREZI, GIOVANNA P.; LABATE, MONICA TERESA VENEZIANO; LABATE, CARLOS ALBERTO; BARONE, FELIPPE P.; LOURENCO, SILVIA VANESSA. Functional Genomics Using High-Throughput Methods for Salivary Analysis in Sjögren's Disease. ORAL DISEASES, v. N/A, p. 13-pg., 2025-03-27. (17/11806-7, 18/00419-5, 22/12807-5, 19/12702-6)