title: Evaluation of the bitterness of antibiotics using a taste sensor.
abstract: The bitterness of nine commercial antibiotics (clarithromycin, erythromycin, cefdinil, doxycycline, vancomycin, tetracycline, minocycline, oxytetracycline and bacampicillin) was evaluated in human gustatory sensation tests with nine volunteers. The bitterness of 0.1-0.3 mM solutions (or suspensions in the case of clarithromycin) of the antibiotics was then measured using an artificial multichannel taste sensor. In the sensor measurements, three variables were used to predict estimated bitterness in single and multiple regression analysis and principal component analysis: sensor output as relative value (R), the change of membrane potential caused by adsorption (C) and C/R. Particularly good correlation was obtained between obtained bitterness scores and predicted scores using C from channel 2 of the sensor (r2=0.870, P<0.005) and C/R values for channels 2 and 3 (r2=0.947, P<0.005). The taste sensor was also successful in assessing the bitterness intensity of clarithromycin powder suspensions of various concentrations. Clarithromycin has a low aqueous solubility but is the most bitter of the nine antibiotics. Sensory data from channel 3 of the sensor predicted the bitterness of clarithromycin powder suspensions and their filtered solutions well. Finally, the bitterness intensity of a commercial clarithromycin dry syrup product (Clarith dry syrup, Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) was evaluated in gustatory sensation tests and using the taste sensor. In Clarith dry syrup the drug is coated with aminoalkyl methacrylate polymer using a spray congealing method. The taste sensor results confirmed that the polymer was successful in almost completely masking the bitter taste of the dry syrup product.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mukogawa Women's University, 11-68 Koshien 9-Bancho, Nishinomiya City 663-8179, Japan. takahiro@mwu.mukogawa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Atsu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanigake
authors.forename: Yohko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyanaga
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuyama
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kunitomo
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Hidekazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikezaki
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012996:Solutions; D013649:Taste
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D012996:Solutions