Discrimination of taste of amino acids with a multichannel taste sensor

Taste of amino acids was studied using a multichannel taste sensor with lipid membranes as the transducer of taste substances. The study on taste of amino acids has drawn much attention so far because each of them elicits complicated mixed taste. The response of the sensor to amino acids was compared with results of panel tests, and response potentials from the eight membranes were transformed to terms representing five basic tastes by multiple linear regression. This expression of five basic tastes reproduced human taste sensation very well. The taste was expressed more quantitatively by assuming new channels, which are represented by multiplication of the response potentials of the original channels. This new set of channels implies the existence of processes involving the nervous system which is connected with taste cells.