The inhibitory effect of buckwheat bee pollen polyphenols on alpha amylase
Bee pollen is a granular substance formed by worker bees collecting plant pollen and mixing it with saliva and nectar. Bee pollen is rich in nutrients and is known as the “universal nutrient bank”, making it a high-quality natural nutritional supplement. The research shows that bee pollen plays an important role in reducing blood sugar and fat, enhancing immunity, inhibiting prostate disease, preventing cancer and anti-cancer, etc. For example, rape bee pollen has the effect of reducing blood sugar in vitro, and camellia bee pollen has the effect of reducing blood sugar in diabetes model mice; Bee pollen extract can also inhibit prostate hyperplasia in mice with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Bee pollen peptides can enhance humoral and cellular immune function in immunocompromised mice. The function of bee pollen is related to the various bioactive components it contains, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, polysaccharides, peptides, etc. Among them, polyphenolic compounds are one of the most important active components of bee pollen.
Polyphenolic compounds mainly include anthocyanins, flavonoids, flavonols, phenolic acids, tannins and other substances, which have clinical application prospects. One of the most important applications is the development of functional foods that assist in lowering blood sugar. Many reports have found that plant polyphenols can reduce blood sugar in diabetes mice, such as sophora japonica polyphenols, wild Lonicera japonica polyphenols, blueberry leaf polyphenols, etc. They can reduce blood sugar by inhibiting key enzymes in blood sugar metabolism. Polyphenols, as important active ingredients in bee pollen, also have hypoglycemic activity. Flavonoids can produce hypoglycemic effects by inhibiting the catalytic activity of various key enzymes involved in blood glucose control, such as alpha amylase and alpha glucosidase.

Alpha amylase is a key enzyme in controlling blood sugar, which converts starch into maltose and glucose by acting on the alpha-1,4-glycoside bonds inside starch, leading to a rapid increase in postprandial blood sugar levels. By inhibiting the activity of α – amylase to reduce the starch digestibility, it can delay the starch digestion, inhibit the intestinal absorption of glucose, effectively regulate the blood sugar level in the body, and thus alleviate the symptoms of diabetes. Therefore, taking α – amylase as the therapeutic target of type 2 diabetes has produced a variety of hypoglycemic drugs used in clinical practice, such as acarbose, voglilitse, miglitol, etc. However, these drugs all have certain side effects, so there is an urgent need to develop natural hypoglycemic drugs from natural products. In order to clarify the feasibility of natural products such as total polyphenols from bee pollen in the development of natural hypoglycemic drugs, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on the inhibitory effects and molecular mechanisms of bee pollen polyphenols on sugar metabolism enzymes.
As an important grain crop, buckwheat has been reported to have hypoglycemic effects, and buckwheat bee pollen polysaccharides have also been shown to have hypoglycemic activity. However, polyphenols, as the main active substance in buckwheat bee pollen, have not been studied for their hypoglycemic effects. In view of this, this study takes buckwheat bee pollen polyphenols (BBPP) as the research object, and investigates its inhibitory effect and mechanism on alpha amylase from three aspects: enzyme kinetics, fluorescence spectroscopy, and ultraviolet spectroscopy. The effects of high temperature, strong alkali, light, and high concentration of oxidants and reducing agents on the inhibitory effect of BBPP on alpha amylase activity were also explored. This experiment can provide theoretical basis for the comprehensive utilization of buckwheat bee pollen and the development of natural hypoglycemic drugs and compound formulations of alpha amylase inhibitors.
This experiment utilized various spectroscopic analyses and inhibition kinetics to investigate the inhibitory mechanism of BBPP on alpha amylase. The results showed that BBPP exhibited a strong and reversible mixed competitive inhibitory effect on alpha amylase, and its inhibitory efficiency was dose-dependent, with an IC50 of 2.00 ± 0.06mg/mL. The stability analysis of BBPP under different conditions showed that high temperature, strong alkali, light, and high concentrations of oxidants and reducing agents could all reduce the inhibitory effect of BBPP on alpha amylase. Fluorescence spectrum quenching analysis shows that BBPP exhibits static quenching at 273-298K and dynamic quenching at 298-310K, with only one binding site between the two. Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy indicates that BBPP causes folding changes in the environment of α – amylase tyrosine residues and increases hydrophobicity. This paper focuses on the study of the inhibitory effect of BBPP on α – amylase as a hypoglycemic active ingredient to alleviate postprandial hyperglycemia. Later, we will study the hypoglycemic function of BBPP in diabetes model animals, and analyze and evaluate the feasibility of its development as a hypoglycemic drug.