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TESTING SUITABILITY OF SWEETENERS IN MASKING THE TASTE OF LEVOCETIRIZINE DIHYDROCHLORIDE USING THE ELECTRONIC TONGUE METHOD

MARTA CZAPIEWSKA 1*, PATRYCJA CIOSEK-SKIBIŃSKA 2, JOANNA LENIK 3, PIOTR
BILSKI 1, TOMASZ GNATOWSKI 1, JERZY KRYSIŃSKI 1

1Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Toruń, 2 Jurasza Street, 85-089 Bydgoszcz, Poland
2Department of Microbioanalytics, Warsaw University of Technology, 3 Noakowskiego, 00-664 Warsaw, Poland
3Department of Analytical Chemistry and Instrumental Analysis, Faculty of Chemistry, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, 3 M. Curie-Skłodowska Square, 20-031 Lublin, Poland

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Overcoming the bitter taste is a main problem in developing a pleasant product, especially for paediatric patients. According to our best knowledge, literature data does not provide testing suitability of sweeteners in masking the taste of levocetirizine dihydrochloride in gels. The present work focuses on the effect of three sweeteners (neotame, saccharin sodium and cyclohexyl sulfamate sodium) on masking the bitter taste of levocetirizine dihydrochloride in a mucoadhesive gel. The study shows not only the graphs of the formulation, active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and placebo, but also the process of the bitter substance release from the gel as seen using the electronic tongue. In this work a potentiometric electronic tongue based on 16 ion-selective electrodes with solid contact based on silver chloride electrode was used. The principal component analysis (PCA) method was used to analyse the results statistically. Release tests were also performed. The collected samples were analysed using the reversed-phase HPLC to determine the levocetirizine dihydrochloride content in each of them. The formulations presented in the plot form compact clusters which proves the repeatability of the e-tongue responses. The electronic tongue release study suggests that all the sweeteners in the appropriate concentrations presented in this study could mask the bitter taste of levocetirizine dihydrochloride.