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Innovative Medicines & Omics

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
High inhibitory activity of flavonoids from

Sophora japonica L. flower buds against
α-amylase and α-glucosidase: A mechanistic

insight

Jinting Sun , Ranying Zhang , Jiayan Xiong , Jinlin Li , Chaoyang Zhang ,
1
1†
1
1†
1†
and Yunfeng Ma 1,2,3 *
1 Department of Bioengineering, School of Life Sciences, Henan University/Henan Province, China
2 Institute of Microbial Engineering, Laboratory of Bioresource and Applied Microbiology, Henan
University/Henan Province, China
3 Engineering Research Center for Applied Microbiology of Henan Province/Henan Province, China

Abstract
In this work, a method was developed to screen compounds with enzyme activity
inhibition in vitro using chromatographic analysis combined with activity difference
analysis (CAADA). The flower buds of Sophora japonica L. (FBSJ) were found to contain
abundant flavonoids. These flavonoids were then screened for their high inhibitory
activity against α-amylase and α-glucosidase using fingerprint and activity difference
† These authors contributed equally
to this work. analysis. Consistent conclusions were drawn from multiple techniques, including the
reported technique, IC data, and CAADA. The inhibitory mechanism was further
*Corresponding author: 50
Yunfeng Ma analyzed through enzyme inhibition kinetics, circular dichroism, fluorescence
(mayunfeng@henu.edu.cn) spectrometry, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics (MD). Among the six
flavonoid components studied, quercetin was found to act as a competitive inhibitor
Citation: Sun J, Zhang R, Xiong J,
Li J, Zhang C, Ma Y. High inhibitory against α-amylase, while kaempferol showed a mixed manner of inhibition against
activity of flavonoids from Sophora α-glucosidase. Molecular docking and MD simulations demonstrated that quercetin
japonica L. flower buds against and kaempferol have higher binding energies and bound more tightly to their targets.
α-amylase and α-glucosidase:
A mechanistic insight. Innov Med In general, flavonols exhibited higher inhibitory activity than their corresponding
Omics. 2025;2(1):55-70. flavonol glycosides against both α-amylase and α-glucosidase. Quercetin and
doi: 10.36922/imo.6010 kaempferol in FBSJ showed potential as inhibitors of α-amylase and α-glucosidase.
Received: November 15, 2024 This study not only presented a novel method for screening compounds with
Revised: December 5, 2024 high activity but also provided a theoretical basis for studying the application and
Accepted: December 13, 2024
Published online: December 30, mechanism of flavonoids against α-amylase and α-glucosidase in FBSJ.
2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). Keywords: Sophora japonica L.; Flavonoids; α-amylase; α-glucosidase
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, 1. Introduction
provided the original work is
properly cited. Flavonoids, polyphenolic compounds typically present in plants, play a crucial role in
Publisher’s Note: AccScience human nutrition, and numerous studies have thoroughly documented their various
Publishing remains neutral with biological functions. These compounds demonstrate multifunctional anti-diabetic
1
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional properties by influencing certain cellular signaling pathways, thereby enhancing
affiliations. multiple facets of carbohydrate metabolism, including α-glycosidase activity, glucose

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2025) 55 doi: 10.36922/imo.6010