Catechol-tetraethylenepentamine co-deposition modified cellulose filter paper for α-glucosidase immobilization and inhibitor screening from traditional Chinese medicine

Cellulose filter paper (CFP) is expected to be an ideal carrier for enzyme immobilization due to its sustainability and biocompatibility. However, the interaction between the carrier and enzyme might change the spatial conformation of the enzyme and its microenvironment, and thus the flexibility of the enzyme molecule or the transport of the substrate to the active site would be hampered. In this work, a two-component system of catechol and tetraethylene pentamine was used to replace dopamine, and a polydopamine-like composite layer was deposited on the surface of CFP to introduce amino groups, which was similar to the self-polymerization-adhesion behavior of dopamine. Using polyethylene glycol diglycidyl ether with flexible spacer arms as the cross-linking agent, α-glucosidase was covalently bonded to amino-modified CFP through an epoxy ring-opening reaction. The immobilized α-glucosidase exhibited greater tolerance to pH and high temperature. After 10 repeated uses, the immobilized α-glucosidase maintained relatively high enzyme activity. Its kinetic behavior was investigated to illustrate the reliability for enzyme inhibitor screening. Finally, a screening method combining an immobilized enzyme and capillary electrophoresis analysis was proposed and applied to screening inhibitors from 11 kinds of traditional Chinese medicines, among which Chebulae Fructus, Phyllanthi Fructus and Terminaliae Relliricae Fructus exhibited strong enzyme inhibitory activities.