Research Article Neuroprotective Activity of Thioctic Acid in Central Nervous System Lesions Consequent to Peripheral Nerve Injury

Copyright © 2013 Daniele Tomassoni et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Peripheral neuropathies are heterogeneous disorders presenting often with hyperalgesia and allodynia. This study has assessed if chronic constriction injury (CCI) of sciatic nerve is accompanied by increased oxidative stress and central nervous system (CNS) changes and if these changes are sensitive to treatment with thioctic acid.Thioctic acid is a naturally occurring antioxidant existing in two optical isomers (+)- and (−)-thioctic acid and in the racemic form. It has been proposed for treating disorders associated with increased oxidative stress. Sciatic nerve CCI was made in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and in normotensive reference cohorts. Rats were untreated or treated intraperitoneally for 14 days with (+/−)-, (+)-, or (−)-thioctic acid. Oxidative stress, astrogliosis, myelin sheets status, and neuronal injury in motor and sensory cerebrocortical areas were assessed. Increase of oxidative stressmarkers, astrogliosis, and neuronal damage accompanied by a decreased expression of neurofilament were observe