Suitability of E-tongue Sensors to Assess Taste-Masking of Pediatric Liquids by Different Beverages Considering Their Physico-chemical Properties

Abstract

Manipulation of liquid oral drugs by mixing them into foodstuff is a common procedure for taste-masking of OTC pharmaceuticals when administered to children. However, the taste-masking capability of such application media is not systematically evaluated, and recommendations for suitable media are hardly published. In this study, a sensor array of commercially available and self-developed electronic tongue sensors was employed to assess the taste-masking efficiency of eight different beverages (tap water, apple juice, carrot juice, fennel tea, fruit tea, milk, cocoa, and Alete meal to drink) on the OTC pharmaceuticals Ambroxol-ratiopharm®, Cetirizin AL, and Laxoberal® by multivariate data analysis. The Euclidean distances between each pure application medium and its corresponding drug mixture were used as an indicator for the taste-masking efficiency and correlated to the physico-chemical properties of the beverages. Thus, the pH value, the viscosity, as well as the fat and sugar content of the beverages were included, whereas only the viscosity appeared to be insignificant in all cases. The sugar content as well as the fat content and pH value emerged to be a significant variable in taste-masking efficiency for some of the tested drug products. It was shown that the applied electronic tongue sensors were capable to demonstrate the impact of the physico-chemical properties of the application media on their taste-masking capacity regardless of their non-selectivity towards these characteristics.

Critical View on the Qualification of Electronic Tongues Regarding Their Performance in the Development of Peroral Drug Formulations with Bitter Ingredients

“…As most utilized e-tongue systems are only sensitive to ionized substances, interpreting the taste-masking effect of non-ionized substances, such as lactose and mannitol, typically requires critical expert knowledge. In this regard, it has already been discussed whether the sweetness of viscosity-enhancing but non-charged substances could be indirectly applied to evaluate sweetness [76]. Further, sensors applied for detecting the sweetness of non-charged sugars, as well as negatively charged high-potency sweeteners and positively charged high-potency sweeteners, have been presented (summarized inter alia by [77]).…”

Potential use of electronic noses, electronic tongues and biosensors as multisensor systems for spoilage examination in foods

“…These systems consist of an array of sensors coupled with chemometric means of data processing for the characterization of complex liquid samples(Winquist, Olsson, & Eriksson, 2011; Martínez-Bisbal, Loeff, Olivas, Carbó, García-Castillo, López- Carrero, Tormos, Tejadillos, Berlanga, Martínez-Máñez, Alcañiz,& Soto, 2017;Kumar, Ghosh, Tudu & Bandyopadhyay, 2017;Rudnitskaya , Schmidtke, Reis, Domingues, Delgadillo, Debus, Kirsanov, Legin, 2017). Following adequate calibration and training, the electronic tongue is able to determine the qualitative and quantitative chemical composition of more chemical species in complex samples(Lvova, Di Natale & Paolesse, 2017; Gutiérrez, Haddi, Amari, Bouchikhi, Mimendia, Cetó, & del Valle, 2013;Immohr, Hedfeld, Lang, & Pein, 2017).…”

The Utility of the Artificial Taste Sensor in Evaluating the Bitterness of Drugs: Correlation with Responses of Human TASTE2 Receptors (hTAS2Rs)

“…[7][8][9] Huge efforts have been devoted by industry and academia in the development of taste-masked pharmaceuticals. 10,11) However, compliance issues, stemming from the bitter taste of active pharmaceutical ingredients, are still common.…”

“…The taste sensor with lipid/polymer membranes developed by Toko is one such artificial chemical sensor, and is widely used in pharmaceutical applications. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] A taste sensor must respond consistently to the same taste, like the human tongue. Bitter materials are adsorbed on the hydrophobic part of the membrane and cause a change in membrane potential by changing the charge density.…”