Mucin, salivary composition

Some studies have been made relating specifically to astringency. Some of these studies have focused directly on interactions between tannins and salivary proteins [21, 23, 25, 46, 50-53], and on the changes in saliva protein composition after interaction with tannins [15, 38, 54, 55]. Other studies have correlated the sensorial astringency with protein-tannin interactions [45, 56, 57]. In fact, the astringency felt when sampling different tannin solutions can be correlated with the ability of these tannins to precipitate proteins. This effect has been observed with several proteins such as mucin [45], ovalbumin and gelatin [57], bovine semm albumin (BSA), and salivary proteins [58]. 

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