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alpha-Lipoic acid (1,2-dithione-3-pentanoic acid)
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Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is the only antioxidant that is both fat and water soluble. This is important because ALA can cross every part of the living cells to perform tremendous ability to trap the free radicals. As with the thiol anti-oxidant glutathione, ALA is part of a redox pair, being the oxidized partner of the reduced form Dihydro Lipoic Acid (DHLA). ALA is readily absorbed from diet (being particularly high in spinach and meat) and is rapidly converted to DHLA by NADH or NADPH in most tissues. Unlike glutathione, for which only the reduced form is an anti-oxidant, both the oxidized and reduced forms of ALA are anti-oxidants.
We have synthesized several ALA derivatives for exploiding their antioxidant effects on different in vitro and in vivo systems. One of the most effective derivative among the synthesized compounds, is the hybrid one in which melatonin and ALA are integrated in a molecule. The antioxidant activity of this molecule is found twice than ALA itself. The radioprotection effect of this compound through whole body exposure, is under progress.