Comparison and improvement of palatability for multisourced oral azithromycin suspension / 药学学报

Azithromycin dry suspension is one of the most commonly used drugs in pediatric clinic, but its taste masking has been difficult to achieve. 5 representative products of azithromycin dry suspension were chose to compare their tastes both using electronic tongue and human sensory evaluation methods, and there existed the differences of bitterness, later bitterness, graininess, and adhesion among these products. Raman micro-imaging was used to determine the difference in taste mainly due to different prescription ingredients and manufacturing techniques. Through mixing the dry suspensions with alkaline mixing solvent, the bad taste of each product was masked after evenly dispersing in the solvent, and their tastes were all close to the taste of the solvent. In the future, it is planned to investigate the stability and bioavailability of the solvent preparations, and then to give the medication suggestion of solvent preparation after ensuring their efficacy.

Study on formulation screening of chloral hydrate oral solution / 药学学报

Chloral hydrate is a commonly used central sedative drug before pediatric clinical examination, but its clinical safety and medication adherence are needed to focus on normally because of its poor stability and palatability. Under the premise of investigating the stability of different formulations, their palatability were also screened by using both human sensory and electronic tongue evaluation techniques. Human sensory evaluation has been conducted with the informed consent of all participants in accordance with the ethical requirements of the Good Clinical Practice for Drug Trials. The results showed that the addition of sorbitol and sucralose could effectively ensure the stability of the oral solution. Sorbitol is the main taste-masking component, and the ratio of 40% sorbitol and 0.5% sucralose can effectively mask the bitterness, astringency and spicy taste of 10% chloral hydrate oral solution. The results detected by human sensory and electronic tongue have good correlation and complementarity, and the combination of these two methods is more conducive to getting objective and reasonable conclusions.

Comparative study on the methods to determine disintegration time of oral soluble films / 药学学报

Disintegration time is a key parameter that affects the palatability and compliance of oral soluble films. At present, there is no standard method to determine the disintegration time of oral soluble films. In this study, we compared the six methods (pharmacopoeial disintegration method, petri dish method, sponge surface method, slide frame and ball method, partially immersed into liquid (without weight attached) and partially immersed into liquid (with weight attached)) to determine the in vitro disintegration time of oral soluble films with different thickness, and evaluated the correlation with the in vivo disintegration time. The results showed that the repeatability and correlation of pharmacopoeial disintegration method and the partially immersed into liquid method (with weight attached) were excellent, with the endpoint of disintegration testing easy to determine. Partially immersed into liquid method (with weight attached), properly simulating the physiological condition in oral cavity, showed strong operability, good repeatability and in vitro-in vivo correlation, and was suitable for in vitro disintegration evaluation of oral soluble film dosage form. The adult sensory evaluation study was a research-based clinical trial conducted with informed consent from all subjects in accordance with the ethical requirements of Good Clinical Practice.

Technical status and development trends of electronic tongue / 药学学报

Electronic tongue is one kind of bionic detection technologies, which can objectively reflect the taste of drugs based on electrochemical principle. In this paper, the development histories of electronic tongue both of potential type and voltammetry type were introduced, including their detection principles and key innovation technologies. In order to comprehensively improve the understanding of electronic tongue, its technological progresses, such as the study of dedicated sensors or biosensors for specific tastes, and the development of miniaturized or hybrid devices, were also discussed in detail. And the challenges and countermeasures in the application of electronic tongue were analyzed to provide some suggestions for its further technology promotion.

Formulation optimization and analysis of taste-masking effect of licorzine granules based on sensory evaluation and electronic tongue method / 药学学报

Licorzine granules are common preparations for children zinc deficiency. Considering the long course of treatment, the taste of licorzine granules may become a main factor affecting medication adherence. To date there have been no taste evaluation research into licorzine granules yet. In this study, both sensory evaluation and electronic tongue method were utilized to optimize licorzine granules formulations, evaluate the tastes of licorzine, excipients, optimized formulation in vivo and in vitro. As the results show, bitterness and astringency are the main unpleasant tastes generating from licorzine. Xanthan gum is the main taste-masking excipient, lowering down the bitterness and astringency of licorzine by at least one grade. Good correlation exists between the results of sensory evaluation and electronic tongue method, and an integrated combination of the two helps to obtain objective and rational research conclusions. The adult sensory evaluation study was a research-based clinical trial conducted with informed consent from all subjects in accordance with the ethical requirements of Good Clinical Practice.

Application progress of electronic tongue on taste evaluation for drug products / 药学学报

The taste of oral dosage forms has become a critical factor affecting the drug compliance and adherence to the treatment, and clinical application of the drug product may seriously restricted due to its bad taste. On the basis of the statement for the basic principle and specific performance of existing instruments, the application progress of electronic tongue on drug taste evaluation is addressed in detail. In view of its objective, fatigue-free, less harmful and accurate advantages, electronic tongue has been widely and meaningfully applied in the aspects of bitterness masking, and quality assessment and assurance of drug products. In addition, the reasons limiting the popularization of electronic tongue are mentioned in the paper, and some suggestions might be useful to enlarge the further application in the future.