In Silico docking studies of lipoxygenase inhibitory activity of commercially available flavonoids

New drug discovery is considered broadly in terms of two kinds of investigational activities such as exploration and exploitation. Docking of small molecules in the receptor binding site and estimation of binding affinity of the complex is a vital part of structure based drug design. The current study is deals with the evaluation of the cyclooxygenase inhibitory activity of flavonoids using in silico docking studies. In this perspective, flavonoids like Silbinin, Galangin, Scopoletin, Hesperitin, Genistein, Daidzein, Esculatin, Taxifolin, Naringenin and Celecoxib were selected. Celecoxib, a known cyclooxygenase inhibitor was used as the standard. In silico docking studies were carried out using AutoDock 4.2, based on the Lamarckian genetic algorithm principle. Three important parameters like binding energy, inhibition constant and intermolecular energy were determined. The results showed that all the selected flavonoids showed binding energy ranging between -8.77 kcal/mol to -6.24 kcal/mol when compared with that of the standard (-8.30 kcal/mol). Intermolecular energy (-11.15 kcal/mol to -6.83 kcal/mol) and inhibition constant (374.69 nM to 26.83 µM) of the ligands also coincide with the binding energy. All the selected flavonoids contributed cyclooxygenase inhibitory activity because of its structural parameters. These molecular docking analyses could lead to the further development of potent cyclooxygenase inhibitors for the treatment of inflammation.