Elucidating Odorant Masking Effects in Food Matrices through Olfactory Receptor-Based Profiling

= 22.69 ± 3.85 μmol/L). Consistently, quantitative cellular response assays further validated that 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine and l-menthol exert mutual inhibitory effects on their respective receptors, as evidenced by the significant inhibition of receptor signaling. Moreover, molecular modeling predicted that 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine and l-menthol competitively occupy the same orthosteric pocket via analogous binding conformations. These results provide novel receptor-level insights into odorant inhibitory effects, connecting sensory perception to molecular recognition, and deepen the mechanistic understanding of flavor perception.