Affiliations: [a] Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China | [b] Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, China | [c] Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Ancona, Italy | [d] Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Faculty of Science, University of Vigo, Ourense Campus, Ourense, Spain
Correspondence:
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Corresponding authors: Maurizio Battino, Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona 60100, Italy; Tel.: +39 071 2204646; Fax: +39 071 2204398; E-mail: m.a.battino@univpm.it and Xiaodong Zheng, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Tel.: +86 591 83736738; Fax: +86 591 83739118; E-mail: xdzheng@zju.edu.cn.
Abstract: Anthocyanins are plant pigments widely present in fruits and vegetables that exert health benefits as part of human diet. They exist in not glycosylated forms (anthocyanidins) and glycosylated forms. Anthocyanins have been studied for their ability to inhibit polysaccharide metabolism enzymes (such as α-glucosidase) and, therefore, attenuate hyperglycemia and modulate type II diabetes. The aim of the present work was to compare the inhibitory activity of anthocyanins with that of acarbose, a common α-glucosidase inhibitor, by evaluating IC50 and Km, to compare the inhibitory capabilities among different compounds in an in vitro study. Our results showed that most of the anthocyanins studied presented lower IC50 values than acarbose; only Pn-3-glc presented IC50 value close to acarbose. Moreover, there was no difference in Km between complete competitive and complete non-competitive types of inhibition (T-test, p > 0.05). In conclusion, the anthocyanins and their degradation products work together on attenuating abilities of this sugar metabolism key enzyme, throughout competitive and non-competitive modes.
