Morphological evaluation of the lipofuscinolytic effect of acetylhomocysteine thiolactone.

The acetylhomocysteine thiolactone, a free radical scavenger drug able to activate the superoxide dismutase, shows a lytic effect on neuronal lipofuscin. The study was performed in a nervous tissue particularly rich in lipofuscin, the electric lobe of Torpedo marmorata. It is shown that the drug induces the migration of pigment towards the blood vessels and glial cells which remove them.