Objective: To study whether the composition from Xiaoke pill has the inhibiting effect on the α-glucosidase

and find out the mechanism of reducing the blood glucose l. Method: The α-glucosidase was prepared from the upper part of rat small intestine and diluted by 5 times in order to reach the requirement of the kit. Sucrose (10 g·L-1) was used as the substrate

and acarbose (1 g·L-1) as the positive control. Different concentrations of Xiaoke pill

the composition and glibenclamide were added into the reaction system. the absorbance of the system at 550 nm was measured after reacting for 40 min under the temperature of 37 ℃.The α-glucosidase activity was detected by measuring the concentration of glucose produced. The inhibition ratio was calculated. Result: Acarbose(1 g·L-1) was shown to be an α-glucosidase inhibitor with an evident inhibition ratio (86.3%). The composition (2-200 mg·L-1) had an inhibition ratio of 18.8%-35.7%. Conclusion: The composition from Xiaoke pill has some inhibiting effect on the α-glucosidase of rat small intestine.