DETECTION OF SUPPRESSION OF BITTERNESS BY SWEET SUBSTANCE USING A MULTICHANNEL TASTE SENSOR

A multichannel taste sensor whose transducer is composed of several ki nds of lipid/polymer membranes with different characteristics can dete ct taste in a manner similar to human gustatory sensation. Taste infor mation is transformed into a pattern composed of electric signals of m embrane potentials of the receptor part. In the present study, it was shown that the suppression of the bitterness of quinine and a drug sub stance by sucrose can be quantified using a multichannel taste sensor. The present method can be expected to provide a new automated method to measure the strength of bitterness of drug substance in the place o f sensory evaluation.