The Free Radical Scavenger, α-Lipoic Acid, Protects Against Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Gerbils

-Lipoic acid (thioctic acid) was tested for its neuroprotective activity in a Mongolian gerbil model of forebrain ischemia/reperfusion. Adult gerbils were treated for 7 days with two intraperitoneal injections per day of -lipoic acid (20 mg/kg), vehicle or saline and on the 7th day the animals were subjected to 5 min of forebrain ischemia. Ischemic injury was assessed by monitoring the increases in locomotor activity and from the extent of damage to the CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cell layer after 5 days of recovery. By both criteria, -lipoic acid was neuroprotective against ischemia/reperfusion evoked cerebral injury.