Rapid identification of α-glucosidase inhibitors from Poria using spectrum-effect, component knock-out, and molecular docking technique

Changyang Ma; Jie Lu; Mengjie Ren; Qiuyi Wang; Changqin Li; Xuefeng Xi; Zhenhua Liu

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1089829

Rapid identification of α-glucosidase inhibitors from Poria using spectrum-effect, component knock-out, and molecular docking technique

Front Nutr. 2023 Aug 10:10:1089829. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1089829. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Changyang Ma^#^{1

2

3

4}, Jie Lu^#^{1

3}, Mengjie Ren^{1

4}, Qiuyi Wang^{1

4}, Changqin Li¹, Xuefeng Xi^{1

5

6}, Zhenhua Liu^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ National R&D Center for Edible Fungus Processing Technology, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.
² Shenzhen Research Institute of Henan University, Shenzhen, China.
³ Joint International Research Laboratory of Food and Medicine Resource Function, Kaifeng, Henan, China.
⁴ Henan Province Functional Food Engineering Technology Research Center, Kaifeng, Henan, China.
⁵ College of Physical Education, Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, China.
⁶ Kaifeng Key Laboratory of Functional Components in Health Food, Kaifeng, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Instruction: Poria (Poria cocos) is known for its health-promoting effects and is consumed as a food due to its potential hypoglycemic activity. However, the composition of Poria is complex, and the bioactive compounds that inhibit α-glucosidase are not clear.

Methods: In this study, the fingerprint of the Poria methanol extract characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the model of the corresponding spectrum-effect relationship for α-glucosidase was first established to screen the active compounds from Poria. Then, the predicted bioactive compounds were knocked out and identified using mass spectrometry. Finally, the potential binding sites and main bonds of each compound with α-glucosidase were studied using molecular docking.

Results: The results have shown that at least 11 compounds from Poria could inhibit α-glucosidase effectively. Moreover, eight individual compounds, i.e., poricoic acid B (P8), dehydrotumulosic acid (P9), poricoic acid A (P10), polyporenic acid C (P12), 3- epidehydrotumulosic acid (P13), dehydropachymic acid (P14), 3-O-acetyl-16α-hydroxytrametenolic acid (P21), and pachymic acid (P22), were identified, and they exhibited effective inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase.

Discussion: The possible inhibitory mechanism of them based on molecular docking showed that the binding sites are mainly found in the rings A, B, and C of these compounds, and C-3 C-16 and side chains of C-17, with the phenylalanine, arginine, tyrosine, histidine, and valine of α-glucosidase. The main interactions among them might be alkyl and hydrogen bonds, which theoretically verified the inhibitory activity of these compounds on α-glucosidase. The achievements of this study provided useful references for discovering bioactive compounds with hypoglycemic effects from Poria.

Keywords: Poria; molecular docking; rapid identification; spectrum-effect relationships; α-glucosidase.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Major Public Welfare Projects in Henan Province (201300110200), Research on Precision Nutrition and Health Food, the Department of Science and Technology of Henan Province (CXJD2021006), and The Key Project in the Science and Technology Agency of Henan Province (221111110600 and 232102110156).