Antihyperglycemic drug screening: 4-nitrophenol intermittent pulse amperometry as a convenient α-glucosidase inhibitor assay

Abstract

We present intermittent pulse amperometry (IPA) as a practical direct electrochemical readout option in a 4-nitrophenol (4-NP)-assisted α-glucosidase (α-GL) activity assay. The feasibility of the strategy was validated through proof-of-principle inhibition tests on a selection of gold-standard α-GL inhibitors and commercial inhibitor-containing plant-based food supplements, and the quality of the obtained results confirmed well the potential of this method in the identification of new antidiabetic drugs. The proposed IPA/4-NP-based α-GL activity inhibition assay is an easy-to-establish user-friendly approach for the rapid and economical detection of inhibitor candidates within small to medium-sized sample libraries and is intended to complement, not replace, other currently used methods and to valuably widen the analytical scheme set for applicants in the academic and industrial pharma sectors.