Effect of melatonin on spinal cord injury induced lipid peroxidation in rats: prognostic value of malondialdehyde

Aim: melatonin is a potent antioxidant agent produced by the pineal gland. in this study we aimed to investigate the neuro-protective effect of melatonin on ischemic spinal cord in the rats. method: aortic clamp was used for the occlusion of the abdominal aorta for 30 minutes. twenty four winstar male rats were used for this study and rats were divided randomly into 4 groups: control group (sham group, n: 5), sham+melatonin treated group (receiving 10mg/kg melatonin intraperitoneally, n: 5), ischemia/reperfusion group (undergoing occlusion but receiving no pharmacologic intervention, n: 7), melatonin + ischemia/reperfusion group (undergoing occlusion and receiving 10mg/kg melatonin intraperitoneally 10 minutes after ischemia, n: 7). spinal cord samples were taken for the malondialdehyde (mda) analyses. results: in the aort occlusion group, the mda levels, indicating the extend of lipid peroxidation, were significantly higher than the other groups (p<0.05). also in the aort occlusion + melatonin group the levels of mda were significantly reduced compared to the aort occlusion group (p<0.05). discussion: in this study, we showed that injection of melatonin reduces the effects of secondary injury and facilitate the recovery of the damaged spinal cord.