Use of automatic relevance determination in QSAR studies using Bayesian neural networks.

We describe the use of Bayesian regularized artificial neural networks (BRANNs) coupled with automatic relevance determination (ARD) in the development of quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models. These BRANN-ARD networks have the potential to solve a number of problems which arise in QSAR modeling such as the following: choice of model; robustness of model; choice of validation set; size of validation effort; and optimization of network architecture. The ARD method ensures that irrelevant or highly correlated indices used in the modeling are neglected as well as showing which are the most important variables in modeling the activity data. The application of the methods to QSAR of compounds active at the benzodiazepine and muscarinic receptors as well as some toxicological data of the effect of substituted benzenes on Tetetrahymena pyriformis is illustrated.