3D-QSAR (CoMFA and CoMSIA) and pharmacophore (GALAHAD) studies on the differential inhibition of aldose reductase by flavonoid compounds.

Inhibitory activities of flavonoid derivatives against aldose reductase (AR) enzyme were modelled by using CoMFA, CoMSIA and GALAHAD methods. CoMFA and CoMSIA methods were used for deriving quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models. All QSAR models were trained with 55 compounds, after which they were evaluated for predictive ability with additional 14 compounds. The best CoMFA model included both steric and electrostatic fields, meanwhile, the best CoMSIA model included steric, hydrophobic and H-bond acceptor fields. These models had a good predictive quality according to both internal and external validation criteria. On the other hand, GALAHAD was used for deriving a 3D pharmacophore model. Twelve active compounds were used for deriving this model. The obtained model included hydrophobe, hydrogen bond acceptor and hydrogen bond donor features; it was able to identify the active AR inhibitors from the remaining compounds. These in silico tools might be useful in the rational design of new AR inhibitors.