Edaravone is a potent free-radical scavenger that has been in the market for more than 30 years. It was originally developed in Japan to treat strokes and has been used there since 2001. Aside from its anti-oxidative effects, edaravone demonstrated beneficial effects on proinflammatory responses, nitric oxide production, and apoptotic cell death. Interestingly, edaravone has shown neuroprotective effects in several animal models of diseases other than stroke. In particular, edaravone administration was found to be effective in halting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) progression during the early stages. Accordingly, after its success in Phase III clinical studies, edaravone has been approved by the FDA as a treatment for ALS patients. Considering its promises in neurological disorders and its safety in patients, edaravone is a drug of interest that can be repurposed for traumatic brain injury (TBI) treatment. Drug repurposing is a novel approach in drug development that identifies drugs for purposes other than their original indication. This review presents the biochemical properties of edaravone along with its effects on several neurological disorders in the hope that it can be adopted for treating TBI patients.

依达拉奉是一种有效的自由基清除剂，已经在市场上销售了30多年。它最初在日本开发用于治疗中风，自2001年以来一直在日本使用。除了抗氧化作用外，依达拉奉还显示出对促炎反应，一氧化氮生成和凋亡细胞死亡的有益作用。有趣的是，依达拉奉已在中风以外的几种动物疾病模型中显示出神经保护作用。特别地，发现依达拉奉在早期阶段可有效阻止肌萎缩性侧索硬化症（ALS）的进展。因此，依达拉奉在III期临床研究中获得成功后，已被FDA批准为ALS患者的治疗药物。考虑到它在神经系统疾病方面的前景及其对患者的安全性，依达拉奉是一种令人关注的药物，可用于创伤性脑损伤（TBI）治疗。药物重新利用是药物开发中的一种新方法，该方法可将药物用于其原始适应症以外的目的。这篇综述介绍了依达拉奉的生化特性及其对几种神经系统疾病的影响，希望可以将其用于治疗TBI患者。