Comparison of antioxidant effectiveness of lipoic acid and dihydrolipoic acid.

The abilities of dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) to scavenge peroxynitrite (ONOO(-) ), galvinoxyl radical, 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) cation radical (ABTS(+•) ), and 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) were higher than those of lipoic acid (LA). The effectiveness of DHLA to protect methyl linoleate against 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane hydrochloride) (AAPH)-induced oxidation was about 2.2-fold higher than that of LA, and DHLA can retard the autoxidation of linoleic acid (LH) in the β-carotene-bleaching test. DHLA can also trap ∼0.6 radicals in AAPH-induced oxidation of LH. Moreover, DHLA can scavenge ∼2.0 radicals in AAPH-induced oxidation of DNA and AAPH-induced hemolysis of erythrocytes, whereas LA can scavenge ∼1.5 radicals at the same experimental conditions. DHLA can protect erythrocytes against hemin-induced hemolysis, but accelerate the degradation of DNA in the presence of Cu(2+) . Therefore, the antioxidant capacity of -SH in DHLA is higher than S-S in LA.