Research advances in biosynthesis of alpha-lipoic acid for antioxidant

Alpha-lipoic acid and its reduced dihydrolipoic acid have strong antioxidative activity,they could improve glucose metabolism,diminish oxidative stress,and could prevent and treat diabetic cataract,diabetic polyneuropathy,cardiovascular damage and other complications of diabetes.α-Lipoic acid’s mechanism of action,biosynthetic pathway of α-lipoic acid,and its application,especially the biological production of α-lipoic acid which has broad prospects for application development were reviewed in this paper.