A Mathematical Model of Chemoreception for Odours and Taste

Modeling of the Psychophysical Response Curves Using the Grand Canonical Ensemble in Statistical Physics

“…Maurin 16 and Garrido et al 21 have provided a valuable method for discriminating sweeteners on the basis of the onset, intensity, and duration (the time until no sweet taste remains) of perception of a sensory attribute. They proposed mathematical models to describe the intensity by a continuous time function.…”

“…The parameters of models are related to the onset time (the time when sweet taste is first perceived) of response, maximum intensity of the response, time at which the curve starts to decline from maximum intensity, rate of onset, and rate of decay of the response. 10,16,21 We use the intensity-time recordings to obtain responseconcentration curves, which are the subject of the current work. Hence, we retain the maximum values of the intensity-time curve corresponding to the suitable concentration.…”

“…Its investigation cannot be performed without employing the grand canonical ensemble to take account of the particle number variation by introducing a chemical potential in the T m duration at which the response is maximall; T i duration at which the curve starts to decline from maximum intensity until the extinction of sweet sensation; T p duration of persistence; T d total response duration, and I max maximum response intensity 10,16,21 adsorption process. Although the overall system is canonical, the canonical ensemble and the grand canonical one are considered as equivalent as it is macroscopic.…”

“…This response is proportional to the number of sites occupied by the stimulus. 1,[13][14][15][16] The proposed model describes the response, but has not been sufficiently quantified to get information about the gustatory mechanism.…”

“…They are only adsorbed in such a way as to fit with the active conformation of the protein in the sweet receptor. [16][17][18] In the past, several scientists concentrated their research efforts to answer questions such as what molecular properties of sweet tasting compounds are associated with sweetness, whereas others tried to deal with issues related to structure-activity relationships. 18 In the present work, our purpose is to give an analytical expression of the gustatory response using a statistical treatment and the adsorption phenomenon.…”