Monoselenolipoic acid may be an outstanding pharmaceutical antioxidant with direct thioredoxin-like activity

Owing to the low pKa of its selenohydryl group, reduced monoselenolipoic acid (MSL) can be expected to be a very versatile antioxidant with direct thioredoxin-like activity. Since MSL supports the growth of lipoate-dependent bacteria, it can be anticipated that MSL will be susceptible to reversible reduction by one or more of the enzymes that reduces lipoic acid - thus greatly potentiating MSL's utility as an antioxidant. If it is not metabolized to release toxic free selenide, MSL may have interesting pharmaceutical potential.