Berberine is separated from medical plants and food raw materials, and shows excellent anti‐diabetic activity and could be used as a food additive in some countries and regions. However, its inhibitory mechanisms on α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase have hardly ever been revealed in vitro. In this study, enzymatic reaction kinetics, fluorescence quenching, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and molecular docking are used to study the inhibitory effects of berberine on α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase. Berberine has great inhibitory effects on α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase (IC50 = 50.83 µg mL–1, IC50 = 198.4 µg mL–1, respectively), and inhibition types of α‐amylase and α‐glucosidase are non‐competitive inhibition and competitive inhibition, respectively. Fluorescence spectra show that there is static quenching between berberine and α‐amylase or α‐glucosidase. Besides, hydrophobic interaction is the main interaction type. These results are further evidenced and visualized by molecular docking. This study provides a different theoretical basis for berberine in anti‐diabetic activity in vitro and expands interaction research about hydrophobic compounds and α‐amylase as well as α‐glucosidase.
Schizochytrium limacinum sp. was commercially utilized to produce single cell oil (SCO), but its detailed lipid profile remains unknown. In order to analyze the composition and structure of SCO produced by Schizochytrium limacinum SR31, the SCO extracted at stationary growth phase was separated into neutral lipids (NL), polar lipids and glycolipids by using silica gel column chromatography. The result of lipid classes in NL revealed that triacylglycerol (TAG) was the primary glyceride (93.81 %). Fatty acid (FA) analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) proved that palmitic acid (29.78 %) and docosahexaenoic acid (25.64 %) were the major FA. Quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry in electrospray ionization mode coupled with ultra-performance liquid chromatography was carried out to investigate TAG structures. More than 80 species were identified. Positional distribution of FA in TAG might contribute to further study of the FA shifts during the lipid turnover stage and nutritional evaluation of the SCO.
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