掩盖药物溶液的苦味是药剂学的重要课题之一， 特别是在儿童用药当中，掩盖苦味更是显得尤为重要。然而，现有的苦味研究手段并不能够有效的分析溶液苦味，这严重阻碍了溶液苦味抑制剂的研究进展。最近的Nature报道，苦味受体除了在舌头表面存在之外，还在人的气管平滑肌表面表达。更重要的是，气管平滑肌上只有苦味受体的表达，而没有其他味觉受体的存在（如：酸、甜、辣、咸受体）。为此，我们试图采用现代微加工技术，将气管平滑肌上的苦味受体固定在微载体表面，形成"气管味蕾"。通过监测荧光苦味物质在"气管味蕾"上荧光变化，来直观获得溶液中苦味的变化。利用这个系统，我们将对小分子的溶液苦味淬灭现象进行系统性的研究，获得小分子的苦味淬灭规律。"气管味蕾"苦味评价平台的建立，将显著简化苦味评价过程，推动苦味掩盖机理的研究，同时也能够为 "味与效"的研究提供有力的方法和手段。

Bitter masking is one of the most import projects in pharmaceutics, especially in children's drug. However, current bitterness evaluation method cannot provide an effective way to evaluate solution bitterness, which greatly limited the research progress of solution bitter masking. Recent research in NATURE reported that bitter receptors were also found in airway smooth muscle while other taste receptors were not. Therefore, we developed an ASMBT chip (airway smooth muscle based taste chip) via microfabrication. Using this chip, we will do extensive researches on small molecule based bitter masking and elucidate the discipline of small molecule as bitter masking agents. This platform will make great contribute to the simplification of bitter evaluation and the progress of research on bitter masking.