Neuroprotective effect of exogenous melatonin on the noradrenergic neurons of adult male rats’ locus coeruleus nucleus following REM sleep deprivation

Publication date: Available online 17 June 2019Source: Journal of Chemical NeuroanatomyAuthor(s): Seyed Behnamedin Jameie, Somaye Mesgar, Abbas Aliaghaei, Amir Raoofi, Maryam Amini, Fariba Khodagholi, Samira Danyali, Marziyeh Sorraya, Yousef SadeghiAbstractMelatonin is primarily secreted by the pineal gland in dark. In addition to its role as an internal sleep facilitator, melatonin acts as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective agents. melatonin has been introduced as a therapeutic strategy for sleep disorders. Hence, in the present study, we studied the neuroprotective effects of pre- and post-treatment of melatonin in locus coeruleus nucleus (LC) of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprived (REM-SD) male adult rats. Adult male rats of control, sham and trial groups were used Exogenous melatonin (ExMe) was intraperitoneally injected in two forms of pre and post treatment. The protein level of cleaved caspase-3, the number and density of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive neurons and the microglia population in LC were studied by western blot and immunohistochemistry respectively. Morphological changes of LC nucleus and its neurons were also studied by using stereological analysis. The number of neurons and volume of LC was reserved in animals that had received post-RSD ExMe. Apoptosis significantly was decreased comparing to RSD and Pre-RSD animals. Melatonin post-treatment of RSD rats also decreased cleavage of caspase-3 and increased reduced glutathione conte...
Source: Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research