title: Melatonin modulates acute testicular damage induced by carbon ions in mice.
abstract: The present study was performed to obtain evidence of the radioprotective function of melatonin at different administration levels on carbon ion-induced mouse testicular damage. Outbred Kun-Ming strain mice were divided into six groups, each composed of eight animals: control group, melatonin alone group, irradiation group and three melatonin plus irradiation-treated groups. An acute study was carried out to determine alterations in DNA-single strand break, cell apoptosis, and oxidative stress parameters as well as histopathology in mouse testis 24 h after whole-body irradiation with a single dose of 4 Gy. The results showed that pre-treatment and post-treatment with high-dose melatonin (10 mg/kg) both significantly alleviated carbon ion-induced acute testicular damage, a greater radioprotective effect being observed in the pre-treatment group. On the other hand, low-dose melatonin (1 mg/kg) had a limited radioprotective effect on irradiation-induced degeneration and DNA lesions in mouse testis. Taken together, the data suggest that prophylactic treatment with a higher dose of melatonin is probably advisable to protect against the effects of heavy-ion irradiation.
authors: Department of Medical Physics, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
authors: Yang
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Hong
authors: H
authors: Zhang
authors: Luwei
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: Xu
authors: X
authors: Zhang
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Xie
authors: Weiping
authors: W
authors: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D002244:Carbon / Q000633:toxicity*; D020552:Comet Assay; D004249:DNA Damage; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D008550:Melatonin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D009154:Mutation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000528:radiation effects; D011833:Radiation Injuries, Experimental / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012671:Seminiferous Tubules / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D013733:Testicular Diseases / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013737:Testis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D002244:Carbon; D005978:Glutathione; D008550:Melatonin