Development of a Taste Sensor-Based Evaluation System to Quantify the Bitterness of Medicine and Its Application to Preformulation

Abstract

The present article was to review the evaluation system to quantify the bitterness of medicines and its suppression using the taste sensor, in order to realize the theoretical design of taste-masking formulations. The sensor responses obtained by the eight sensors allowed not only the quantitative evaluation of the bitterness of the substance but also the interpretation of the perception mechanism and the characteristics of the bitter substance by using a principal component analysis. Single or multi regression analysis using the selected factors as explanatory variables allowed us the quantitative evaluation of bitterness for basic drugs, and single, binary- and multiple-component amino acid solutions. The effects of a bitterness-receptor antagonist, lipoprotein (BMI-40) could be evaluated using bitter-sensitive sensor. Whereas the sweet-sensitive sensor was useful for prediction of suppressed bitterness by sweeteners. Finally the possibility of molecular imprinted polymer as a screening system for bitterness-suppression for targetted drug was demonstrated. Hopes are that this study will serve as a step that the taste sensor will be actively used for efficient and effective designing of bitterness masking formulation.