An integrated database of flavonoids

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kinoshita, Takashi | Lepp, Zsolt | Kawai, Yoshichika | Terao, Junji | Chuman, Hiroshi

Affiliations: Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima, Graduate School, Schomachi 1-78, Tokushima, 770-8505, Japan

Note: [] Corresponding author. Tel./Fax: +81 88 633 9508; E-mail: hchuman@ph.tokushima-u.ac.jp

Abstract: Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds that occur ubiquitously in foods of plant origin. Some of these molecules exhibit various physiological activities. Among existing drugs, there are a huge number of compounds bearing a flavonoid-related skeleton. Because of the relevance for pharmaceutical research, it would be beneficial to collect these compounds into a database. Recently, various databases of chemicals were compiled to help biological and/or chemical research, but no comprehensive database of flavonoids with chemical structures and physicochemical parameters, supposedly related to their activity, is available yet. The aim of this research was to merge the information about flavonoids of plant origin and flavonoids used as medicines into a database. Moreover, predictions of activities against various targets were performed using a virtual screening procedure to demonstrate a possible application of the database for pharmaceutical research.

Keywords: Database, flavonoid, lipoxygenase inhibitors, molecular structural properties, structure-activity relationship, support vector machine

Journal: BioFactors, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 179-188, 2006