Effect of neonatal melatonin administration on behavioral and brain electrophysiological and redox imbalance in rats

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Based on the behavioral, electrophysiological, and biochemical pieces of evidence, we suggest that, in addition to the receptor-mediated MLT actions, MLT acts as an antioxidant when given in low doses and may act as a prooxidant when given in high doses, as occurred with CSD under treatment with ascorbic acid (Mendes-da-Silva et al., 2014). However, confirming this suggestion requires a more detailed evaluation of the redox imbalance in the brain. It is still uncertain whether this new effect of MLT can be extrapolated from the rat to the developing human brain (Vine et al., 2022; Reiter et al., 2023). However, the clinical evidence suggests that melatonin may improve sleep disorders, cognitive functioning (Sumsuzzman et al., 2021), and neonatal hypoxic–ischemic brain lesions (Cardinali, 2019). In addition, melatonin may benefit classical migraine patients (Ebert et al., 1999) and improve blood glucose levels in diabetes (Delpino et al., 2021). Interestingly, melatonin levels are reduced in some metabolic, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases (Cardinali, 2020). This evidence suggests a possible relevant implication of our novel findings in the developing rat brain.

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