Fluorescence polarisation for high-throughput screening of adulterated food products via phosphodiesterase 5 inhibition assay

Recent applications of phosphodiesterase (PDE5) inhibition assays for detecting adulterated sexual enhancement products

Consumer products marketed for sexual enhancement are frequently adulterated with erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs and analogs; consuming these undisclosed adulterants can pose significant health hazards. Although ED drugs/analogs have unpredictable and diverse structures that pose challenges for detecting them, they all share the ability to inhibit phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) activity, a pharmacological mechanism responsible for their effects. Consequently, several PDE5 inhibition assays have been recently applied as screening methods to detect ED drug/analogs in products. Here, the successes and challenges are highlighted for screening sexual enhancement products by PDE5 inhibition assays.