School of Agricultural Engineering and Food Science, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, Shandong Province, China.
Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
ACS Sens. 2023 Jul 28;8(7):2750-2760. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.3c00646. Epub 2023 Jul 6.
Bioelectronic tongues based on umami taste receptors have recently been reported for versatile applications such as food analyses. However, their practical applications are still limited, partly due to their limited stability and non-specific responses in real sample environments. Herein, we have developed a hydrogel-based bioelectronic tongue for the sensitive assessment of umami intensity in fish extract samples. In this study, the T1R1 venus flytrap of an umami taste receptor was immobilized on the gold floating electrodes of a carbon nanotube-based field-effect transistor. A polyacrylamide conducting hydrogel film was further hybridized on the sensor surface via physical adsorption, which could provide a good physiological environment to maintain the activity of receptors due to its excellent hydrophilicity and biocompatibility. The bioelectronic tongue with a receptor-embedded hydrogel structure showed a sensitive detection of umami substances down to 1 fM, and it also had a wide detection range of 10-10 M for monosodium glutamate and disodium inosinate, which covers the human taste threshold. More importantly, the proposed sensor could significantly reduce the non-specific binding of non-target molecules to a carbon nanotube channel as well as exhibit long-term stability, enabling sensitive detection of umami substances even in fish extract samples. Our hydrogel-based bioelectronic tongue provides a promising platform for future applications such as the flavor evaluation of foods and beverages.
基于鲜味味觉受体的生物电子舌最近被报道用于各种应用，例如食品分析。然而，它们的实际应用仍然受到限制，部分原因是它们在真实样品环境中的稳定性和非特异性响应有限。在此，我们开发了一种基于水凝胶的生物电子舌，用于灵敏评估鱼提取物样品中的鲜味强度。在这项研究中，鲜味味觉受体的 T1R1 捕蝇草被固定在基于碳纳米管的场效应晶体管的金浮置电极上。通过物理吸附进一步将聚丙烯酰胺导电水凝胶膜杂交到传感器表面，由于其出色的亲水性和生物相容性，它可以为受体提供良好的生理环境以维持其活性。具有受体嵌入水凝胶结构的生物电子舌对鲜味物质的检测下限低至 1 fM，并且对谷氨酸单钠和肌苷酸钠的检测范围也很宽，为 10-10 M，涵盖了人类的味觉阈值。更重要的是，所提出的传感器可以显著减少非靶向分子对碳纳米管通道的非特异性结合，并表现出长期稳定性，即使在鱼提取物样品中也能实现对鲜味物质的灵敏检测。我们的基于水凝胶的生物电子舌为食品和饮料的风味评估等未来应用提供了有前途的平台。
