Melatonin treatment counteracts the hyperoxidative status in erythrocytes of patients suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze whether the antioxidant melatonin could reduce the hyperoxidative status in the blood of patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy.

Design and methods: Ten patients aged 12.8±0.9 years were treated with melatonin (60mg at 21:00h plus 10mg at 09:00h) for 9 months, and erythrocyte markers of oxidative stress were determined at 3, 6, and 9 months of treatment. Healthy age- and sex-matched subjects served as controls.

Results: Prior to treatment, the patients had higher glutathione disulfide/glutathione ratio and higher glutathione transferase and superoxide dismutase activities, and lower glutathione reductase activity than controls. After 3 months of melatonin treatment, the hyperoxidative status of these patients was counteracted, being reduced to the normal redox state between 3 and 9 months.

Conclusion: These results, together with the reduction in the inflammatory process and in muscle injury recently reported in the same patients, support the efficacy of melatonin therapy in DMD patients.