Laboratory Procedure

1. Palatability of Oral Solutions

In this exercise, you will work in groups of 4 students, to form a taste panel. Stock solutions of the following therapeutic solutions will be supplied:

• Potassium Chloride 10% w/v
• Acetylcysteine 10% w/v
• Guaifenesin 2% w/v
• Ammonium Chloride 8% w/v

Solutions will be coded so that you will not know which one is which until after you have completed the experiment. Tasting is done by placing a glass rod into the liquid and transferring a drop to the tongue. All samples should be tasted at room temperature and the palate should be cleared between each taste by rinsing the mouth with distilled water. Simple syrup will serve as a point reference against which the other flavors will be compared and ranked. Rank your taste preferences from 1 (best flavor) to 6 (worst flavor).

• Calibrate the dropper for each drug to determine drops per ml. This will enable you to calculate the weight, in mg, of drug masked by each flavoring agent.
• Each student should choose one of the four drugs and place 3 ml of each of the flavoring agents listed in the data table for that drug into test tubes. Add the drug dropped to the flavoring agent mixing well and tasting after each drop. Keep track of the number of drops added. Continue until the taste of the drug is barely perceptible. Repeat with each assigned flavor for the drug. When each panel member has completed this process, everyone in the group should taste each product for each drug and rank his/her taste preferences.
• Taste and characterize the flavor of each unflavored drug solution.

Dropper Calibration

Drug	Drops/ml
Drug A = _______________ Drug B = _______________ Drug C = _______________ Drug D = _______________	____________ ____________ ____________ ____________

Experimental Data and Results

Drug	Flavor	Drops Added	mg Masked by 3 ml of Flavor	Rank Taste Masking Ability (1=best, 6=worst)
Drug A =   __________ Taste:   __________	Cocoa Syrup Orange Syrup Raspberry Syrup Aromatic Elixir Cherry Syrup Glycyrrhiza Syrup
Drug B =   __________ Taste:   __________	Cocoa Syrup Orange Syrup Raspberry Syrup Aromatic Elixir Cherry Syrup Glycyrrhiza Syrup
Drug C =   __________ Taste:   __________	Cocoa Syrup Orange Syrup Raspberry Syrup Aromatic Elixir Cherry Syrup Glycyrrhiza Syrup
Drug D =   __________ Taste:   __________	Cocoa Syrup Orange Syrup Raspberry Syrup Aromatic Elixir Cherry Syrup Glycyrrhiza Syrup

NOTE: Select "Taste" as sweet, sour, bitter, or salty.

Show Calculations for mg Drug Masked:

2. Palatability of Suspensions

You will taste several commercially prepared antacid suspensions and rank them according to taste, aroma, appearance and texture. Again, the products will be coded so that you will not know which is until after the experiment is complete.

Product	Flavor	Aroma	Texture	Appearance	Overall Rank (1=best, 5=worst)
1
2
3
4
5

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