Nahid Najafi - Department of Pharmacodynamics and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Hossein Hosseinzadeh - Department of Pharmacodynamics and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) is an endogenous antioxidant that interrupts cellular oxidative processes. These properties might qualify ALA for a modulatory role in the treatment of people with neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative disorders. Materials and Methods: We completed a search using SCOPUS database on 27 february 2019 with the following keywords: α-lipoic acid , α lipoic acid , alphalipoic acid , Acid alpha-Lipoic , Thioctic Acid and Alzheimer, Parkinson, Multiple Sclerosis , cognitive impairment , Neurodegenerative, Neuroinflammation, Cerebral Injury , Brain Damage , Traumatic Brain Injury , Neurological disorders and Stroke .Results: The total number of references found after automatically and manually excluding duplicates was 128 references. After primary and secondary screening 92 articles were selected. Regarding to, ALA showed several protective effects against neurodegenerative disorders such as protective effects against β-amyloid related tissue damage via Alzheimer disease, protecting dopaminergic neuronal cells against oxidative damage in Parkinson disease, inhibition of NF-κB activation via regulating phosphorylation in ischemic stroke.Conclusion: Generally, ALA leads to the activation of phosphoinositol-3 kinase (PI3K), PKG, and ERK1/2 pathways, which play essential roles in neuronal cell survival. The major protective effects of ALA are mediated throuth the reduction of ROS production,protective effects against of GSH depletion and decrease in mitochondria function. There is a requirement of welldesigned clinical trials to prove the clinical indicationsof ALA effects for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.