3) Dihydrolipoate reduces oxidized thioredoxin to reduced thioredoxin, a signaling molecule.
Reduced thioredoxin is important in the binding of transcription factors to DNA and thus is necessary for gene expression
Lipoate, in its reduced form, DHLA, is the driving force for maintaining high concentrations of the reduced antioxidant (potent) forms of the major cellular antioxidants such as glutathione, thioredoxin and ascorbic acid in the aqueous phase, and vitamin E and ubiquinol in membranes or lipoproteins. The amount of alpha lipoic acid naturally present in the body may not be adequate to obtain the antioxidant benefits. Increasing the amount of alpha lipoic acid through dietary supplementation can help to perform this vital function. All these attributes make alpha lipoic acid the metabolic antioxidant par excellence.