Evaluation of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors by SPR biosensor and theoretical studies

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor has been utilized for monitoring analyte-ligand interactions in modern drug discovery processes. SPR biosensors measure the change in refractive indexes over the course of analyte molecules' binding to a specific immobilized ligand on sensor chip. This effort highlights a comprehensive SPR study besides enzymatic assay for discovery of new Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors via screening of medicinal plants. At first, five medicinal plants were selected as potential sources for developing new ACE inhibitors through hydrolyzing hippuryl-L-histidyl-L-leucine (HHL) assay. The interaction of selected extracts with immobilized ACE on the sensor chip (500D) confirmed that the Onopordum acanthium L. had the greatest ACE inhibition activity among the set of compounds and its active compound (onopordia) was isolated. SPR biosensor used to evaluate binding affinity of onopordia and ACE. Equilibrium constant (K_D), and changes in Gibb's free energy of the binding (ΔG_binding) values for the interaction of onopordia with ACE were found to be 10.24 μM and -28.48 kJ/mol, respectively. Computational analysis supported the binding of onopordia to the ACE active site. Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of binding revealed that onopordia is an acceptable ACE inhibitor and could treat hypertension. SPR biosensor can be used to improve the drug discovery process for many important classes of drug targets due to its great sensitivity.