A Novel Taste Sensor Based on Ion Channels Incorporated in Nano-lipid Bilayer Membranes

Biological studies have elucidated the gustatory detection of taste receptor cells often take place on ion channels or receptors in cells membranes. In this study, we build a novel electronic tongue based on ion channels of channel-active peptides gramicidin incorporated in lipid bilayer membranes with highly ordered nanopores. By impedance analysis, this novel biomimetic sensing systems can separate tastants by their functional characters to ion channels. This nano-lipid platform is useful to study special ion channels or receptors with potential detecting for special kind of taste.