摘要The bitterness of a drug is a major challenge for patient acceptability and compliance,especially for children.Due to the toxicity of medication,a human taste panel test has certain limitations.Atomoxetine hydrochloride(HCl),which is used for the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD),has an extremely bitter taste.The aim of this work is to quantitatively predict the bitterness of atomoxetine HCl by a biosensor system.Based on the mechanism of detection of the electronic tongue(E-tongue),the bitterness of atomoxetine HCl was evaluated,and it was found that its bitterness was similar to that of quinine HCl.The bitterness threshold of atomoxetine HCl was 8.61 μg/ml based on the Change of membrane Potential caused by Adsorption(CPA)value of the BT0 sensor.In this study,the taste-masking efficiency of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin(HP-β-CyD)was assessed by Euclidean distances on a principle component analysis(PCA)map with the SA402B Taste Sensing System,and the host-guest interactions were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC),powder X-ray diffraction(XRD),nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).Biosensor evaluation and characterization of the inclusion complex indicated that atomoxetine HCl could actively react with 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin.