Pancreatic α-amylase plays a crucial role in polysaccharide metabolism located in small intestine. Thus, inhibition of this enzyme is important for patients suffering from diabetes mellitus.
In this study, we developed an online capillary electrophoresis method to monitor time course of enzymatic reaction of α-amylase with starch. Since the enzymatic reaction takes place in a capillary and the introduction process is automated by introducing zones of substrate and enzyme separately, fast screening of possible inhibitors is enabled within 6 minutes.
Moreover, consumption of enzyme and substrate is decreased significantly.