Advances in gustatory biomimetic biosensing technologies: In vitro and in vivo bioelectronic tongue

Taste, as one of the natural chemical sensations, has attracted worldwide attention due to their great significance to organismal survival in the area of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. Therefore, it is highly essential and worthy to develop taste detection methods with higher performances. Fast advancements of the gustatory biosensing technologies, especially in the life sciences and micro-/nano-technologies, are providing unprecedented opportunities for bioelectronic tongue (BioET). This review summarizes the most recent advances in BioETs for gustation detection. First, we briefly present the fundamental of mammalian gustation system (MGS). Then, BioETs are introduced from two aspects of in vitro and in vivo according to their technical architectures. Strategies, target tastes, analytes, sensing elements, transducers, coupling methods and practical performance are highlighted and discussed to assess the taste detection applications comprehensively. Finally, the current challenges and future development trends of BioETs are discussed.