口感设计与掩味、矫味效果评价是中药制剂处方设计的重要组成部分。从传统的志愿者感官评价、动物偏好实验评价到化学成分定量分析、电子舌智能味觉评价，分析方法的灵敏度与分辨率越来越高，但与人体真实感受的相关性却越来越低。如何同时满足检测方法的客观真实性、高灵敏度，乃至实时动态量化，是中药制剂掩味技术发展的重要方向。同时兼具上述特点的功能性磁共振成像（functional magnetic resonance imaging，fMRI）技术在中医临床诊断、针刺效应研究以及食品行业等方面得以广泛应用，用于中药制剂掩味评价的基础条件也趋于成熟。对fMRI技术的基本原理、实验设计与数据处理方法进行介绍，并从人体与样品角度对实验的影响因素进行了分析，在此基础上，提出了"标准物质浓度-志愿者感官等级-脑信号强度相关性"的研究思路，以期为中药制剂产品优化与口感改进提供新的思路与方法，推动中药制剂品质评价从"经验试错"走向"科学有据"。

Taste design and taste masking evaluation is an important part of Chinese materia medica (CMM) preparations design. From the traditional volunteers' evaluation, animal preference experiments to chemical composition quantitative analysis and electronic tongue intelligent taste evaluation, the sensitivity and resolution of the analysis method are getting higher and higher, however, the correlation with the real feeling of the human body is getting lower and lower. How to satisfy the objective authenticity, high sensitivity, and real-time dynamic quantification of the detection method is an important direction in the development of taste masking technology of CMM preparations. In recent years, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology has been widely used in the clinical diagnosis, acupuncture effect study, and food industry, etc. The basic conditions of fMRI used to taste masking evaluation of CMM preparation tend to mature. In this paper, the basic principle, experimental design and data processing methods of fMRI were introduced, and the influence factors of the experiment were analyzed from the human body and the samples. On this basis, the author puts forward the standard substance concentration-the sensory level of volunteers-brain signal intensity correlation research ideas. It will provide new methods for product optimization and taste improvement of CMM preparations, and also promote the quality evaluation of CMM preparations from experience to scientific evidence.

国家自然科学基金资助项目（81403115）