Abstract
The technological developments of recent times have allowed the use of innovative approaches to support the diagnosis of various diseases. Many of such clinical conditions are often associated with metabolic unbalance, in turn producing an alteration of the gut microbiota even during asymptomatic stages. As such, studies regarding the microbiota composition in biological fluids obtained by humans are continuously growing, and the methodologies for their investigation are rapidly changing, making it less invasive and more affordable. To this extent, Electronic Nose and Electronic Tongue tools are gaining importance in the relevant field, making them a useful alternative—or support—to traditional analytical methods. In light of this, the present manuscript seeks to investigate the development and use of such tools in the gut microbiota assessment according to the current literature. Significant gaps are still present, particularly concerning the Electronic Tongue systems, however the current evidence highlights the strong potential such tools own to enter the daily clinical practice, with significant advancement concerning the patients’ acceptability and cost saving for healthcare providers.
Highlights
The present review aimed to investigate the current state of the art and innovative topic of artificial senses in the detection of gut microbiota within biological samples
In this approach, Electronic Nose (E-nose) and Electronic Tongue (E-tongue) tools, mimicking the chemical senses, are probably the most useful devices to be eventually applied to solve the problem. This is true as a result of the intrinsic nature of the biological samples being analyzed, which include gaseous or liquid matrices coming from the human body
With respect to the current state of the art technology, including well-grounded tools for analyzing such biological samples, E-nose and E-tongue systems represent a significant innovation since their characteristics could be of interest for a wide range of end-users
Summary
The human chemical senses, including olfactory and taste ones, rely on arrays of receptors situated in the nasal mucosa and in the tongue, respectively, which act as transducers, being able to convert the chemical stimuli into an electrical signal, a system of transport of the obtained signal and a first line center of elaboration [1,2]. This implies that, in order to replicate the biological reality, the technology mentioned above must have an equivalent device corresponding, at least functionally, to each step of the process described above.
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