Spectroscopic and E-tongue evaluation of medicinal plants: A taste of how rasa can be studied

BACKGROUND The use of medicinal plants in Ayurveda is based on rasa, generally taken to represent taste as a sensory perception. This chemosensory parameter plays an important role in Ayurvedic pharmacology. OBJECTIVE The aim is to explore the use of structuro-functional information deduced from analytical techniques for the rasa-based classification of medicinal plants in Ayurveda. MATERIALS AND METHODS Methods of differential sensing and spectroscopic metabolomics have been used in select medicinal plants from three different taste categories (sweet, pungent and multiple taste): Tribulus terrestris, Vitis vinifera and Glycyrrhiza glabra from sweet category; Piper longum, Cuminum cyminum and Capsicum annum from pungent group; Emblica officinalis with five tastes. While Electronic tongue was used for evaluation of the sensorial property of taste, the chemical properties were studied with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). RESULTS In terms of taste and phytochemical profiles, all samples were unique but with similarities within each group. While the sensor response in E-tongue showed similarities within the sweet and pungent categories, NMR spectra in the aromatic region showed close similarities between the plants in the sweet category. The sensory, phytochemical and phytoelemental profiles of E. officinalis (with five rasa) in particular, were unique. CONCLUSION A combination of sensorial and chemical descriptors is a promising approach for a comprehensive evaluation and fingerprinting of the Ayurvedic pharmacological parameter rasa.