Sensory evaluation of the taste of berberine hydrochloride using an Electronic Tongue.

BACKGROUND: The "Electronic Tongue" is an instrument that can be trained to screen the taste attributes of formulations within a rapid timeframe when used in conjunction with sensory panel taste assessment data.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to demonstrate that a sensory instrument for taste (e-Tongue) could be used to evaluate the bitterness of berberine hydrochloride from Chinese medicinal herbs.
METHODS: Several flavorful native compounds were tested by the e-Tongue. Data from a human sensory panel was collected to train the e-Tongue. The e-Tongue was then used to establish the correlation between data from the sensory panel, and to predict the bitterness scores of berberine hydrochloride.
RESULTS: The e-Tongue showed different response patterns for different tastes or strengths of flavor compounds. No significant differences were found between the results of the e-Tongue and the sensory taste panel.
CONCLUSIONS: The e-Tongue could be used to evaluate the effect of bitterness of berberine hydrochloride. Therefore, e-Tongues showed potential to replace sensory panel evaluations in future experiments regarding Chinese traditional medicine.