Acetylcholinesterase immobilized capillary reactors coupled to protein coated magnetic beads: a new tool for plant extract ligand screening.

The use of immobilized capillary enzyme reactors (ICERs) and enzymes coated to magnetic beads ((NT or CT)-MB) for ligand screening has been adopted as a new technique of high throughput screening (HTS). In this work the selected target was the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which acts on the central nervous system and is a validated target for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, as well as for new insecticides. A new approach for the screening of plant extracts was developed based on the ligand fishing experiments and zonal chromatography.