Hydrodynamic oscillator - a possible taste sensor
by
Amlan Kumar Das
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, SMIT, Majitar, Rangpo, Sikkim(East)-737132, India
Coauthors: Prof. Ashok Rao (HOD, Physics,SMIT, Majitar, Rangpo, Sikkim(East)-737132, India)

The study of oscillatory transport phenomena in the far from equilibrium region is important from the point of view of biology and also from the point of view of understanding the nature of instabilities. It is almost certain that living state is a non-equilibrium state in the far from equilibrium region; the further we are from equilibrium the closer we are to life. In the far from equilibrium region one can come across the exotic oscillatory phenomena. The interest of this region is mainly because, most of the physiological process relevant to life occur in this region. Schrodinger has rightly pointed out life is a non-equilibrium phenomena.

Bio-oscillation or bio-rhythm is one of the most important properties of living organisms for maintaining life. There have been many studies on electrical phenomena associated with excitation or oscillation of biological membranes. Most of these studies have been carried out with the aim of increasing our understanding of the mechanism of oscillations in biomembranes. Despite extensive efforts, physicochemical mechanism of excitability remains unknown. Various types of artificial membranes with excitability have been used in order to elucidate the mechanism of the biological excitation or oscillations but the reproducibility of the electrical response obtained has been poor.

The mechanism leading to taste to sensation of taste, which is so very essential for the maintenance of life, are very complex and little understood. Developing parameters to describe the sensation of taste, qualitively and quantitatively, though important in itself, is quite important for the food industry. The food industry, for assessment of taste, has to depend on the individual judgment of tasters employed for this purpose. Broadly speaking, it can be said that interaction of different chemicals, which may be called as taste stimuli, with taste recepters is converted into information of nerve impulses which the brain receives to decipher the taste. It is, therefore, necessary to have an excitable oscillatory system on which the phenomenon of taste can be mimicked.

In a recent study, it has been shown that the hydrodynamic oscillator developed by Yoshikawa et al. is a good candidate for mimicking the sensing mechanish of taste. It was argued that the hydrodyanamic oscillator can be viewed as an analogue of taste buds and the amplitude of electrical potential oscillations in the hydrodynamic oscillator, using a taste stimulant, as an analogue of the recepter potential. The amplitudes of the electrical potential oscillations in the hydrodynamic oscillator were shown to correlate well with the logarithms of the relatives taste indices, concentration, etc. of the substances belonging to different taste categories.

In the present communication, we have obtained from the hydrodynamic oscillator, data on the electrical potential oscillations in the case of substances belonging to four different primary taste categories,i.e.,sweet,sour,salty and bitter, and a few mixtures of substances belonging to two different taste categories. In this way, an attempt has been made to establish hydrodynamic oscillator as sensor for quantifying taste.

Date received: April 18, 2004

Copyright © 2004 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caoe-19.