Lipoxins are included in the family of bioactive products, which are produced from Arachidonic Acid (AA). Lipoxins have various anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory functions. They have a small shelf life formed by nonclassic eicosanoids. Lipoxins have a high affinity towards lipoxin A4 receptors. The receptor is also involved in stimulation of chemotaxis of Polymorphonuclear cells in vitro.

A study by Jia and colleagues at Department of Neurology, China has shown that Lipoxin A4 methyl ester alleviates vascular cognition impairment in rats. Endoplasmic reticulum stress mechanisms and autophagy are involved in some neurodegenerative diseases. The researchers suspected a similar mechanism would be responsible for chronic cerebral hyperfusion induced vascular cognitive impairments. Lipoxin A4 methyl ester is an inflammation inhibitor which exhibits protective functions in stroke models used for experiments. 

Earlier studies also showed that Lipoxin A4 methyl ester was responsible for showing an improvement in cognitive deficit in a rat model created through two vessel occulation and bilateral common carotid artery ligation. The present study treated two vessel occlusion rats were treated with lipoxin A4 methyl esters. The treatment showed improvement in the morphological defects of the brain. The study also reported reduction in expression of autophagy and ERS related factors in hippocampus of the rats.