Article history: Received: 26 Apr 2014. Accepted: 10 June 2014 Available online: ........ ZJRMS 2015 Sep; ....(..): ...-.... Background: One of the therapeutic approaches to lower postprandial blood glucose is to inhibition breakdown of starch by inhibiting carbohydrate hydrolysis enzymes. Alphaamylase catalyzes the hydrolysis of α-(1, 4)-D-glycosidic linkages of starch and other glucose polyme...

Simmondsin was modified with acarviosine-glucose using the transglycosylation activity of Thermus maltogenic amylase to synthesize a novel compound with both antiobesity and hypoglycemic activity. The LC/MS and 13C NMR analyses confirmed that the structure of the major transglycosylation product was acarviosine-simmondsin (Acv-simmondsin), in which acarviosine was attached to the glucose moiety...

Midgut hydrolytic enzymes of Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) were identified and partially characterized. Km, Vmax, optimum pH, and specific activity were determined for proteolytic enzymes and αamylases. All hydrolytic enzyme activity had an optimum pH value in the alkaline pH range. We observed major serine protease activity, together with minor cysteine-like activity, th...

A new approach for the discovery and subsequent structural elucidation of oligosaccharide-based inhibitors of -amylases based upon autoglucosylation of known -glucosidase inhibitors is presented. This concept, highly analogous to what is hypothesized to occur with acarbose, is demonstrated with the known -glucosidase inhibitor, D-gluconohydroximino-1,5-lactam. This was transformed from an inhib...

It is now believed that the inhibition of carbohydrate hydrolyzing enzymes (CHEs) in the digestive tract can significantly prolong the overall carbohydrate digestion time and decrease the postprandial hyperglycemia after a meal. Therefore, inhibitors of CHEs can be useful therapeutic approaches in the management of diabetes mellitus, especially in the type 2, and complications associated with t...

The occurrence and roles of cGMP were investigated in aleurone layers and protoplasts isolated from barley (cv Himalaya) grain. Levels of cGMP in freshly isolated barley aleurone layers ranged from 0.065 to 0.08 pmol/g fresh weight of tissue, and cGMP levels increased transiently after incubation in gibberellic acid (GA). Abscisic acid (ABA) did not increase cGMP levels in aleurone layers. LY 8...

The nucleotide sequence of the coding and regulatory regions of the ca-amylase gene (aml) of Streptomyces limosus was determined. High-resolution Si mapping was used to locate the 5' end of the transcript and demonstrated that the gene is transcribed from a unique promoter. The predicted amino acid sequence has considerable identity to mammalian and invertebrate ca-amylases, but not to those of...

Aqueous extracts of four seaweeds collected from Gulf of Mannar coastal waters were tested for α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition properties. The aqueous extracts of seaweeds in the order of Gracilaria edulis, Sargassum polycystum, Ulva lactuca and Gracilaria corticata showed significant inhibitory activity against α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes. G. edulis was found to be a potent inhi...

Camelids produce functional antibodies devoid of light chains and CH1 domains. The antigen-binding fragment of such heavy chain antibodies is therefore comprised in one single domain, the camelid heavy chain antibody VH (VHH). Here we report on the structures of three dromedary VHH domains in complex with porcine pancreatic alpha-amylase. Two VHHs bound outside the catalytic site and did not in...

Camelids produce functional antibodies devoid of light chains and CH1 domains .The antigen-binding fragment of such heavy-chain antibodies is therefore comprised in one single domain, the VHH. We report here on the structures of three dromadery VHH domains in complex with porcine pancreatic αamylase. Two VHHs bind outside the catalytic site and do not inhibit or inhibit only partially the amyla...