title: The protective properties of melatonin against aluminium-induced neuronal injury.
abstract: Aluminium (Al) toxicity is closely linked to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This experimental study investigated the neuroprotective effect of melatonin (Mel; 10 mg/kg bwt) on aluminium chloride (AlCl3 ; 34 mg/kg bwt) induced neurotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats. Adult male albino Wistar rats were injected with AlCl3 for 7 days. The effect on brain structure, lipid peroxidation (LPO), nitric oxide (NO) levels, glutathione (GSH) content, antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GPx and GR), apoptotic proteins (Bax and Bcl-2) and an apoptotic enzyme (caspase-3) was investigated. No apparent changes occurred following the injection of melatonin. Melatonin pretreatment of the AlCl3 -administered rats reduced brain damage, and the tissues appeared like those of the control rats. Compared to treatment with AlCl3 , pretreatment with melatonin decreased LPO and NO levels and increased the GSH content and antioxidant enzyme activity. Moreover, melatonin increased the levels of the anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-2, decreased the levels of the pro-apoptotic protein, Bax, and inhibited caspase-3 activity. Therefore, our results indicate that melatonin may provide therapeutic value against aluminium-induced oxidative stress and histopathological alternations in the rat brain and that these effects may be related to anti-apoptotic and antioxidant activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ebtesam M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Al-Olayan
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.|Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Manal F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: El-Khadragy
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2654-2591
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Abdel Moneim
mesh_terms: D000077410:Aluminum Chloride; D017607:Aluminum Compounds; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002712:Chlorides; D019610:Cytoprotection; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004798:Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D020258:Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D017607:Aluminum Compounds; D000975:Antioxidants; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D002712:Chlorides; D004798:Enzymes; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D000077410:Aluminum Chloride; D005978:Glutathione; D008550:Melatonin
keywords: aluminium chloride; anti-apoptotic; brain; melatonin; oxidant/antioxidant; rats