fisetin and galangin

Flavonols are an important class of naturally occurring molecules and are known for their pharmacological activity. The activity is associated with the ability of flavonols to influence membrane-dependent processes. We have investigated the in-vitro anti-proliferative and anti-oxidant activity of galangin (GLN), fisetin (FTN) and quercetin (QTN), which possess variable number of phenolic hydroxyl groups. An attempt has been made to correlate the biological activity of these molecules with their interaction and localization in dipalmitoyl phosphatidyl choline (DPPC) bilayers, using differential dcanning calorimetry (DSC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods. Results indicate that GLN interacts to the alkyl chains of the lipid bilayer involving hydrophobic interactions. FTN and QTN interact with head region and sn-1-glycero region involving hydrogen bonding. Ring current induced chemical shifts of lipid protons, due to intermolecular interaction indicate that GLN acquires a parallel orientation with respect to the bilayer normal whereas FTN and QTN resume a mixed orientation. The membrane binding constants of these molecules are in the order GLN > QTN > FTN. It has been shown that the number and position of hydroxyl groups in these molecules play an important role in membrane binding and thereby in biological activity.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Antioxidants; Cell Cycle; Cell Proliferation; Crystallography, X-Ray; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Flavonoids; Flavonols; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; K562 Cells; MCF-7 Cells; Membranes, Artificial; Models, Molecular; Molecular Structure; Quercetin; Structure-Activity Relationship

Even hydroxyflavones show diverse biological functions, they have two common features such as showing antioxidative effects and containing hydroxyl groups. The authors tested the antioxidative effects of thirty hydroxyflavones using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay. While the scavenging activity of galangin, 3,5,7-trihydroxyflavone was 52.5%, fisetin, 3,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxyflavone showed 85.2%. To investigate the relationships between the structures of hydroxyflavones and their antioxidative effects, the three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationships were examined.

Topics: Antioxidants; Flavones; Flavonoids; Flavonols; Free Radical Scavengers; Models, Molecular; Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship