GUSTATORY SYSTEM AND MASKING THE TASTE OF BITTER HERBS

The oral route is the most easy and favorable route of drug administration. The development of oral formulations containing bitter herbs has widely been required in pharmaceutical and herbal industry. The human gustatory system is capable of identifying five major taste qualities: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (savory). Different receptors and transduction mechanisms are involved in the detection of each taste quality. Many efforts have been focused to improve the palatability in these products that has prompted in the development of numerous techniques of taste masking. Once a method for taste masking is adopted, it becomes apparent to evaluate the effectiveness of the taste masked product. The major hurdle in evaluation of measuring the effectiveness of taste masking is that the taste is a highly subjective property and it varies demographically and with the age and gender.  This communication gives a brief account of gustatory system, the receptor and transduction mechanism of bitter taste and various techniques used in taste masking of the bitters. The review also reveals the in-vitro and in-vivo methods for evaluating taste masked efficiency of developed product. Finally, the review concludes that proper choice of method for taste masking method is essential and it might depend on the properties of the herbs.