Valnoctamide, which reduces rat brain arachidonic acid turnover, is a potential non-teratogenic valproate substitute to treat bipolar disorder.

•Arachidonic acid (AA) turnover was measured in brain phospholipids of awake rats treated with valnoctamide (VCD).•VCD is a nonteratogenic isomer of teratogenic valproic acid (VPA), that is effective in bipolar disorder (BD).•Like VPA, VCD reduced AA turnover and increased AA dilution factor λ (ratio brain AA-CoA to plasma AA specific activity).•VCD and VPA also reported to inhibit recombinant acyl-CoA synthetase-4 (Acsl-4), which regulates AA turnover.•Similar actions of VCD and VPA on AA suggest that VCD and other nonteratogenic Acsl-4 inhibitors be tested for BD.