Sweet and sweetness-inducing activities of new triterpene glycosides, strogins.

In a previous study we isolated homologues of new oleanane-type triterpene glycosides from leaves of Staurogyne merguensis Kuntze and named them strogins. Strogins themselves have a sweet taste (sweet activity), which diminishes in a few minutes. Subsequent application of cold water to the mouth then elicits a sweet taste (sweetness-inducing activity). In the present study we systematically examined the properties of the sweet and sweetness-inducing activities of strogins. Strogins 1, 2 and 4 had both the sweet and sweetness-inducing activities, while strogins 3 and 5 had no activities. The sweetness-inducing activity in response to cold water lasted for 1 h for strogin 2 and 2 h for strogins 1 and 4. The sweetness-inducing activity was immediately diminished by application of gamma-cyclodextrin to the mouth after strogins were held in the mouth. It seems that the strogins were adsorbed on the gustatory receptor membranes and eliminated by inclusion activity of gamma-cyclodextrin. The structure of strogin resembles that of gymnemic acid, which has antisweet activity. There was competition between strogin 1 and gymnemic acid; treatment of the tongue with strogin 1 before application of Gymnema extract to the mouth reduced the antisweet activity. While the sweetness-inducing activity of curculin in response to water was suppressed by the presence of divalent cations such as Ca2+ or Mg2+, that of strogin was not suppressed by the divalent cations. The changes in the inactive complex between strogin and the sweet receptor site in the adaptation state into the active complex induced by cold stimulation were discussed.