Analysis of α-amylase inhibitor from corni fructus by coupling magnetic cross-linked enzyme aggregates of α-amylase with HPLC-MS.

As a carrier-free immobilization strategy, magnetic cross-linked enzyme aggregates (MCLEAs) showed improved enzyme activity, stability and magnetic response. In this study, MCLEAs of α-amylase (MCLEAs-amylase) was prepared under optimized conditions and characterized with scanning electron microscope and vibrating sample magnetometer. The prepared MCLEAs-amylase showed an amorphous structure and the saturation magnetization was 33.5emu/g, which was sufficient for magnetic separation. Then MCLEAs-amylase coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) was utilized to screen and identify α-amylase inhibitors from ethyl acetate extract of corni fructus. The experiment conditions were optimized. At the optimum conditions (incubation time: 10min, pH: 7.0 and temperature: 20°C), querciturone was successfully screened and identified with weak non-specific binding. The screening result was verified by inhibition assays and the IC50 value of querciturone was 22.5μg/mL. This method provided a rapid way to screen active compounds from natural products.