title: Direct and indirect antioxidant properties of α-lipoic acid and therapeutic potential.
abstract: Diabetes has emerged as a major threat to worldwide health. The exact mechanisms underlying the disease are unknown; however, there is growing evidence that the excess generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) associated with hyperglycemia, causes oxidative stress in a variety of tissues. In this context, various natural compounds with pleiotropic actions like α-lipoic acid (LA) are of interest, especially in metabolic diseases such as diabetes. LA, either as a dietary supplement or a therapeutic agent, modulates redox potential because of its ability to match the redox status between different subcellular compartments as well as extracellularly. Both the oxidized (disulfide) and reduced (di-thiol: dihydro-lipoic acid, DHLA) forms of LA show antioxidant properties. LA exerts antioxidant effects in biological systems through ROS quenching but also via an action on transition metal chelation. Dietary supplementation with LA has been successfully employed in a variety of in vivo models of disease associated with an imbalance of redox status: diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The complex and intimate association between increased oxidative stress and increased inflammation in related disorders such as diabetes, makes it difficult to establish the temporal sequence of the relationship.
authors.affiliation: INSERM UMR866, Laboratoire de Physiopathologie et Pharmacologie Cardio-Métaboliques, Université de Bourgogne, Facultés de Médecine et Pharmacie, 21000 Dijon, France. luc.rochette@u-bourgogne.fr
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rochette
authors.forename: Stéliana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghibu
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeller
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cottin
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vergely
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control; D002614:Chelating Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000188:drug therapy; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction / Q000187:drug effects; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D008063:Thioctic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D002614:Chelating Agents; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D008063:Thioctic Acid; C015144:dihydrolipoic acid