Neural Regeneration Research, 2014 · DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.147954 · Published: December 1, 2014
Melatonin has been shown to diminish edema in rats. Melatonin can be used to treat spinal cord injury. This study presumed that melatonin could relieve spinal cord edema and examined how it might act. Our experiments found that melatonin (100 mg/kg, i.p.) could reduce the water content of the spinal cord, and suppress the expression of aquaporin-4 and glial fibrillary acidic protein after spinal cord injury.
Melatonin may serve as a therapeutic agent to alleviate spinal cord edema and related damage after SCI.
The study provides insights into the mechanisms of melatonin action, specifically the suppression of aquaporin-4 and GFAP expression.
Further investigations are warranted to determine the effects of melatonin in SCI patients and translate these findings into clinical applications.