deprenyl, lipoic acid and immunity

Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Thu, 10 Jun 1999 05:13:31 -0700 (PDT)

Authors
Freisleben HJ. Neeb A. Lehr F. Ackermann H. Institution
Gustav-Embden-Zentrum der Biologischen Chemie, Laboratorium fur Mikrobiologische Chemie, Frankfurt/Main Germany. Title
Influence of selegiline and lipoic acid on the life expectancy of immunosuppressed mice. Source
Arzneimittel-Forschung. 47(6):776-80, 1997 Jun. Abstract
Ten groups of 14 immunosuppressed NMRI-mice (nu/nu) were raised and kept under germ-reduced conditions. The control animals were fed a germ-reduced diet, nine other groups received the same diet with selegiline (CAS 14611-51-9, Deprenyl) or lipoic acid (thioctic acid, CAS 62-46-4) admixed at various amounts. The 50% survival rate, the total life span of each group and the areas under the curves were determined to evaluate life expectancy as compared to the controls. The racemate of lipoic acid at high dosage (350 mg/kg body weight) reduced the life span significantly. The S(-)-enantiomer of lipoic acid (75 mg/kg body weight) increased the 50% survival rate, whereas the physiologic R(+)-enantiomer (9 mg/kg body weight) expanded the total life span of its group. Alteration of only one out of three parameters was not considered significant. All other groups except for one did not differ from controls: only animals which obtained 75 micrograms selegiline per kg of body weight and per day exerted increased life expectancies by all three parameters. This group exhibited also in statistical evaluation a significantly (p < 0.05) prolongated survival time up to about 200% as compared to the control animals.