Pharmacological use of transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channel agonists in neurological disease and aging: effects on swallowing and implications for nutrition

Abstract There is still no pharmacologic treatment for oropharyngeal dysphagia. Impaired oropharyngeal sensitivity plays a major role in the pathophysiology of swallowing disorders in older and neurological patients. Oropharyngeal dysphagia is related to a delay in the swallow response and residue and causes penetrations and aspirations. Nowadays, there are several sensory stimulation strategies aiming at improving the oropharyngeal swallow response and the biomechanics and neurophysiology of swallowing, contributing to the development of active treatment to recover swallowing function instead of compensation treatments to protect patients from unsafe swallow. This chapter will cover one of these new pharmacologic strategies using the family of transient receptor potential (TRP) agonists and will explain the main alterations related to impaired pharyngeal sensory function, the molecular bases, the localization and activation factors of TRP receptor channels, and the therapeutic effect on swallowing function of the various TRP agonists studied and validated on patients with dysphagia.