Abstract
This article presents a simple gold-cellobiose nanocomposites based colorimetric assay for the screening of beta-glucosidase inhibitors. The nanocomposites are composed of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), particular cellobiose substrates, and 6-mercapto-1-hexanol. After beta-glucosidase digestion, the AuNPs become more exposed and the attractive force between AuNPs is increased by the modified 6-mercapto-1-hexanol. Consequently, the aggregation of nanocomposites and the red shift of surface plasmon absorption can be observed. The absorbance ratio at 650 nm and 520 nm (A(650)/A(520)) of nanocomposites can be used to estimate the beta-glucosidase activity. This technology could serve an alternative platform for the efficient screening of beta-glucosidase inhibitors. Both the inhibition effect of heavy metals and surfactants on beta-glucosidase could be analyzed by the detection of beta-glucosidase activity. To summarize, the goal of this technical note is to develop a simple colorimetric method for the screening of beta-glucosidase inhibitors.