Chewing robot could aid development of medicated gum

Medicated chewing gum has been recognised as a new drug delivery method but there is no gold standard for testing drug release from chewing gum in vitro.

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A Bristol University study, published in IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, set out to confirm whether a humanoid chewing robot could assess medicated chewing gum.

The robot is reportedly capable of closely replicating the human chewing motion in a closed environment. It features artificial saliva and allows the release of xylitol – an artificial sweetener - in the gum to be measured.

According to Bristol University, the study wanted to compare the amount of xylitol remaining in the gum between the chewing robot and human participants. The research team also wanted to assess the amount of xylitol released from chewing the gum.

The researchers found the chewing robot demonstrated a similar release rate of xylitol as human participants with the greatest release of xylitol occurring during the first five minutes of chewing. After 20 minutes of chewing only a low amount of xylitol remained in the gum bolus, irrespective of how the gum was chewed.