Inhibitory kinetics and mechanism of kaempferol on α-glucosidase

α-Glucosidase is a therapeutic target for diabetes mellitus, and α-glucosidase inhibitors play a vital role in the treatments for the disease. As a kind of potentially safer α-glucosidase inhibitor, flavonoids have attached much attention currently. In this study, kaempferol was found to show a notable inhibition activity on α-glucosidase in a mixed-type manner with IC50 value of (1.16 ± 0.04) × 10−5 mol L−1. Analyses of fluorescence, circular dichroism and Fourier transform infrared spectra indicated that kaempferol bound to α-glucosidase with high affinity which was mainly driven by hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces, and this binding resulted in conformational alteration of α-glucosidase. Further molecular docking study validated the experimental results. It was proposed that kaempferol may interact with some amino acid residues located within the active site of α-glucosidase, occupying the catalytic center of the enzyme to avoid the entrance of p-nitrophenyl-α-d-glucopyranoside and ultimately inhibiting the enzyme activity.