Self-organizing neural networks for pharmacophore mapping.

We have shown that the SOM network can be a useful tool in pharmacophore mapping strategy. A possibility for the generation of fuzzy molecular representations together with its ability for discovering such aspects of molecular similarity that can be easily overlooked by a human chemist is an important advantage. The reduction in complexity resulting from the data compression is another one. The main disadvantage of SOM usage is the need for the application of special software packages not usually organized in user friendly toolboxes that can be applied easily. Instead, it needs some experience and time to optimize the parameters controlling the performance of the network.