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Xu Y, Sun Q, Chen W, Han Y, Gao Y, Ye J, Wang H, Gao L, Liu Y, Yang Y. The Taste-Masking Mechanism of Chitosan at the Molecular Level on Bitter Drugs of Alkaloids and Flavonoid Glycosides from Traditional Chinese Medicine. Molecules 2022; 27:7455. [PMID: 36364280 PMCID: PMC9658633 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27217455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Revised: 10/25/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 09/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Taste masking of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) containing multiple bitter components remains an important challenge. In this study, berberine (BER) in alkaloids and phillyrin (PHI) in flavonoid glycosides, which are common bitter components in traditional Chinese medicines, were selected as model drugs. Chitosan (CS) was used to mask their unfriendly taste. Firstly, from the molecular level, we explained the taste-masking mechanism of CS on those two bitter components in detail. Based on those taste-masking mechanisms, the bitter taste of a mixture of BER and PHI was easily masked by CS in this work. The physicochemical characterization results showed the taste-masking compounds formed by CS with BER (named as BER/CS) and PHI (named as PHI/CS) were uneven in appearance. The drug binding efficiency of BER/CS and PHI/CS was 50.15 ± 2.63% and 67.10 ± 2.52%, respectively. The results of DSC, XRD, FTIR and molecular simulation further indicated that CS mainly masks the bitter taste by disturbing the binding site of bitter drugs and bitter receptors in the oral cavity via forming hydrogen bonds between its hydroxyl or amine groups and the nucleophilic groups of BER and PHI. The taste-masking evaluation results by the electronic tongue test confirmed the excellent taste-masking effects on alkaloids, flavonoid glycosides or a mixture of the two kinds of bitter components. The in vitro release as well as in vivo pharmacokinetic results suggested that the taste-masked compounds in this work could achieve rapid drug release in the gastric acid environment and did not influence the in vivo pharmacokinetic results of the drug. The taste-masking method in this work may have potential for the taste masking of traditional Chinese medicine compounds containing multiple bitter components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaqi Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Qianwen Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Wei Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Yanqi Han
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Yue Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Jun Ye
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Hongliang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Lili Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Yuling Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
| | - Yanfang Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Delivery Technology and Novel Formulation, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China
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