Acarbose, a potent alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, is as an oral anti-diabetic drug for treatment of the type two, noninsulin-dependent diabetes. Actinoplanes utahensis ZJB-08196, an osmosis-resistant actinomycete, had a broad osmolality optimum between 309 mOsm kg(-1) and 719 mOsm kg(-1). Utilizing this unique feature, an fed-batch culture process under preferential osmolality was constructed through intermittently feeding broths with feed medium consisting of 14.0 g l(-1) maltose, 6.0 g l(-1) glucose and 9.0 g l(-1) soybean meal, at 48 h, 72 h, 96 h and 120 h. This intermittent fed-batch culture produced a peak acarbose titer of 4878 mg l(-1), increased by 15.9% over the batch culture. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.