Liu, L.Wang, Z.Yap, P.L.Zhang, Q.Ni, Y.Losic, D.2025-01-082025-01-082024Luminescence, 2024; 39(1):e4668-1-e4668-121522-72351522-7243https://hdl.handle.net/2440/143561Curcumin (Cur) is an acidic polyphenol with some effects on α-glucosidase (α-Glu), but Cur has disadvantages such as being a weak target, lacking passing the blood-brain barrier and having low bioavailability. To enhance the curative effect of Cur, the hybrid composed of ZnO nanoparticles decorated on rGO was used to load Cur (ZnO@rGO-Cur). The use of the multispectral method and enzyme inhibition kinetics analysis certify the inhibitory effect and interaction mechanism of ZnO@rGO-Cur with α-Glu. The static quenching of α-Glu with both Cur and ZnO@rGO-Cur is primarily driven by hydrogen bond and van der Waals interactions. The conformation-changing ability by binding to the neighbouring phenolic hydroxyl group of Cur increased their ability to alter the secondary structure of α-Glu, resulting in the inhibition of enzyme activity. The inhibition constant (Ki, Cur  > Kis,ZnO@rGO-Cur ) showed that the inhibition effect of ZnO@rGO-Cur on α-Glu was larger than that of Cur. The CCK-8 experiments proved that ZnO@rGO nanocomposites have good biocompatibility. These results suggest that the therapeutic potential of ZnO@rGO-Cur composite is an emerging nanocarrier platform for drug delivery systems for the potential treatment of diabetes mellitus.en© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.curcumin; graphene; inhibition; molecule interaction; ZnO@rGO; α-glucosidasealpha-GlucosidasesCurcuminDiabetes MellitusDrug Delivery SystemsHumansNanoparticlesZinc OxideGlycoside Hydrolase InhibitorsJournal article10.1002/bio.4668683419Yap, P.L. [0000-0001-7346-8139]Losic, D. [0000-0002-1930-072X]