Ethnopharmacology and bioinformatic combination for leads discovery: application to phospholipase A(2) inhibitors.
A program combining ethnopharmacology and bioinformatic approaches has successfully been applied on anti-inflammatory activity. (i) An ethnobotanical study allowed the identification of several plants associated with putative anti-inflammatory properties as potential leads. (ii) On the other hand, it is well known that phospholipase A(2) is a target implicated in the pro-inflammatory process. Thus, (iii) some selected plant extracts were experimentally tested on phospholipase A(2). Finally, (iv) these experimental results combined with bioinformatic tools, such as database exploitation and molecular modeling, allowed to suggest that one compound, betulin and its oxidative form betulinic acid, might be responsible of the anti-PLA(2) activity. This suggestion was confirmed experimentally.
Bernard
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P
GREENPHARMA S. A., 1 rue de Chartres, B.P. 6759, 45067 Cedex 2, Orléans, France. philippe.bernard@greenpharma.com
Scior
T
T
Didier
B
B
Hibert
M
M
Berthon
J Y
JY
D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D019295:Computational Biology; D015195:Drug Design; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020834:Ethnopharmacology; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010741:Phospholipases A / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry; D013045:Species Specificity
D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D010936:Plant Extracts; D010741:Phospholipases A