Effect of Cadmium Ion on alpha-Glucosidase: An Inhibition Kinetics and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Integration Study

α-Glucosidase is a critical metabolic enzyme that produces glucose molecules by catalyzing carbohydrates. The aim of this study is to elucidate biological toxicity of Cd2+ based on α-glucosidase activity and conformational changes. We studied Cd2+-mediated inactivation as well as conformational modulation of α-glucosidase by using kinetics coupled with simulation of molecular dynamics. The enzyme was significantly inactivated by Cd2+ in a reversibly binding behavior, and Cd2+ binding induced a non-competitive type of inhibition reaction (the K i was calculated as 0.3863 ± 0.033 mM). Cd2+ also modulated regional denaturation of the active site pocket as well as overall partial tertiary structural change. In computational simulations using molecular dynamics, simulated introduction of Cd2+ induced in a depletion of secondary structure by docking Cd2+ near the saccharides degradation at the active site, suggesting that Cd2+ modulating enzyme denaturation. The present study elucidated that the binding of Cd2+ triggers conformational changes of α-glucosidase as well as inactivates catalytic function, and thus suggests an explanation of the deleterious effects of Cd2+ on α-glucosidase.