ABSTRACT
Melatonin is an endogenous neurohormone produced predominantly in the pineal gland. Administration of exogenous melatonin was found useful for abnormal sleep parameters in autism spectrum disorders (Rossignol and Frye, 2013). Melatonin plays an important role in the process of ap viability in the dorsal skin ap rat model (Kerem et al., 2013). It suppresses nitric oxide formation in glial cultures by proinammatory cytokines through p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibition (Vilar et al., 2013). Clinical trial of antenatal maternally administered melatonin decreases the level of oxidative stress in human pregnancies affected by preeclampsia (Hobson et al., 2013). Melatonin therapy is effective in protecting rats against the harmful cardiac inammatory response that is characteristic of chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection
31.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................409 31.2 Materials and Methods ......................................................................................................... 410
31.2.1 Animals ................................................................................................................. 410 31.2.2 Animal Groups ...................................................................................................... 410 31.2.3 6-OHDA Lesions ................................................................................................... 410 31.2.4 Quantitation of Rotational Behavior...................................................................... 411 31.2.5 Staircase Test ......................................................................................................... 411 31.2.6 Stepping Test ......................................................................................................... 411 31.2.7 Initiation Time ....................................................................................................... 411 31.2.8 Postural Balance Test ............................................................................................ 411 31.2.9 Disengage Behavior Test ....................................................................................... 412 31.2.10 Cresyl Violet Staining ........................................................................................... 412 31.2.11 Tyrosine Hydroxylase Immunohistochemistry ..................................................... 412 31.2.12 Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein .............................................................................. 412 31.2.13 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................ 413
31.3 Results ................................................................................................................................... 413 31.4 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 413 31.5 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 418 References ...................................................................................................................................... 418
(Oliveira et al., 2013). It was found to prevent cancer tumorigenesis and altered cancer correlates, such as sleep-wake and mood disturbances (Rondanelli et al., 2013). It attenuates dexamethasoneinduced spatial memory impairment and dexamethasone-induced reduction of synaptic protein expressions in the mouse brain (Tongjaroenbuangam et al., 2013). It may be used to dampen interleukin-17-mediated inammation that is enhanced by the increased levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 in obesity (Ge et al., 2013). Melatonin-enhanced autophagy protects against neural apoptosis via amitochondrial pathway in early brain injury following a subarachnoid hemorrhage in rats (Chen et al., 2013). It is a useful treatment to delay the cellular and behavioral alterations observed in PD (Gutierrez-Valdez et al., 2012). It was reported as a neuroprotective agent in the rodent models of PD (Singh et al., 2006; Singhal et al., 2012). It inhibits 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) production in the brain to protect against experimental parkinsonism in the mouse striatum (Borah and Mohanakumar, 2009). High treatment efcacy of melatonin was found useful in the treatment of sleep disorders in PD without dementia (Litvinenko et al., 2012).
