A Formulation for Suppressing Bitter Taste in the Human Oral Cavity

A model for oral drug delivery is described for diminishing bitter taste perception. This model involves the encapsulation of a bitter taste stimulus in lipid microspheres, and the subsequent incorporation of these microspheres in rapidly dissolving edible films that include both masking and flavoring agents. Stearic acid microspheres were prepared that successfully encapsulated the bitter taste stimulus sucrose octaacetate. Sucrose octaacetate microspheres were then embedded in rapidly dissolving edible films for psychophysical studies. Taste intensity, taste quality, and hedonic responses for edible taste strips that contained encapsulated sucrose octaacetate along with masking and flavoring agents in edible taste films were then obtained. These results were compared to three formulations that included either unencapsulated sucrose octaacetate in the polymer film, unencapsulated sucrose octatacetate and masking and flavoring agents in the film, or encapsulated sucrose octaacetate with no additives in the film. Of the four formulations, microsphere-containing edible films that included bitter taste masking and flavoring agents masked the bitter taste of sucrose octaacetate most effectively over a 60-second time period. Participants also reported favorable (positive) hedonic responses with this formulation. The encapsulation of bitter taste stimuli in lipid microspheres and incorporating these microspheres in rapidly dissolving edible films that contain masking and flavoring agents, significantly decreased bitter taste perception. This approach is a promising mechanism for masking bitter taste perception and may represent a model for increasing drug acceptance and drug compliance in both the young and the elderly.

Keywords: bitter taste; chemosensation; edible strips; microspheres; stearic acid.