THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF MELATONIN IN AN ETHANOL-INDUCED GASTRIC ULCER MODEL

Abstract

Introduction. Recently, melatonin and its agonists have been proven to be effective in the treatment of jet lag syndrome, insomnia, stress, fear, anger, anxiety, stress conditions, which are accompanied by sleep disorders, increase the immune system of the whole body, and as antioxidant protection. Melatonin is known to be an important chronobiological molecule that exerts its effect on any system in the body. The role and pharmacological effect of melatonin in the gastrointestinal system is still one of the important topics, and research continues in various directions. Aim. To monitor the therapeutic effects of melatonin in relation to ethanol concentration in an ethanol-induced experimental gastric ulcer model. Material’s and method. A prospective preclinical (experimental) single-center study. The work was carried out using laboratory rats. The research work was carried out for each of the 6 groups, in a model of gastric ulcer induced by ethanol of various concentrations (100-75-60%) and melatonin was administered to the ulcer (15 mg/kg) and the control group. The obtained data were subjected to statistical analysis using a trial version of the SPSS statistical program (SPSS 20 Inc, Chicago, IL, USA), the critical significance level (p) was assumed to be 0.05. Results. In addition to this increase in the wound area, melatonin administered as a prophylactic subcutaneous injection reduced the overall wound area. In the group of wounds induced by ethanol (100%), the wound area was 15.011.92 mm, after intraperitoneal injection of melatonin (15 mg/kg), and after 30 minutes the wound area was 14.011.74 mm in the 100% ethanolinduced group and 13. 241.71 mm, in the 75% ethanol-induced group, 11.871.45 mm in the melatonin + 75% ethanol-induced group, 11.521.15 mm in the 60% ethanol-induced group and 6.12 0.54 mm in the melatonin + 60% ethanol-induced group. Conclusion. In this study, melatonin showed a positive effect in the prevention and treatment of ethanol-induced ulcers at different concentrations. A significant change was observed at higher levels of melatonin inhibition of ethanol exposure at lower concentrations.