title: Melatonin treatment counteracts the hyperoxidative status in erythrocytes of patients suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze whether the antioxidant melatonin could reduce the hyperoxidative status in the blood of patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten patients aged 12.8±0.9 years were treated with melatonin (60mg at 21:00h plus 10mg at 09:00h) for 9 months, and erythrocyte markers of oxidative stress were determined at 3, 6, and 9 months of treatment. Healthy age- and sex-matched subjects served as controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prior to treatment, the patients had higher glutathione disulfide/glutathione ratio and higher glutathione transferase and superoxide dismutase activities, and lower glutathione reductase activity than controls. After 3 months of melatonin treatment, the hyperoxidative status of these patients was counteracted, being reduced to the normal redox state between 3 and 9 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results, together with the reduction in the inflammatory process and in muscle injury recently reported in the same patients, support the efficacy of melatonin therapy in DMD patients.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Parque Tecnológico de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chahbouni
authors.forename: Germaine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Escames
authors.forename: Luis C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sevilla
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Doerrier
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Hoyos
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molina-Carballo
authors.forename: Darío
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Acuña-Castroviejo
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004795:Enzyme Stability; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D019803:Glutathione Disulfide / Q000097:blood; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000097:blood; D005980:Glutathione Reductase / Q000097:blood; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008550:Melatonin / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020388:Muscular Dystrophy, Duchenne / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D005980:Glutathione Reductase; D005982:Glutathione Transferase; D008550:Melatonin; D019803:Glutathione Disulfide