We evaluated the effects of melatonin on acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) induced gastroduodenal and jejunal mucosal injury. We used 40 postpubertal rats divided randomly into five groups of eight animals. The control group consisted of untreated animals. The Mel group was injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with 5mg/kg melatonin. The ASA group was injected i.p. with 200mg/kg ASA. The ASA + Mel group was injected i.p. with 5mg/kg melatonin 45min after administering 200mg/kg ASA i.p. The Mel + ASA group was injected i.p. with 5mg/kg melatonin 45min before administering 200mg/kg ASA i.p. We found no statistically significant differences in mean histopathological scores in the ASA + Mel group compared to the ASA group. ASA caused shortened villi and loss of the apical villus in the duodenum. The histopathological score was increased and villus height was decreased in the ASA group compared to untreated controls. Treatment with melatonin attenuated the histological damage. In the ASA group, occasional areas showed erosion of villi in the jejunum; however, differences in mean histopathological score in ASA group compared to the other groups were not statistically significant. Malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were measured in stomach, duodenal and jejunum tissue. We found increased MDA activity in both stomach and duodenal tissues in the ASA group compared to the control group (p<0.05). We found no statistically significant changes in MDA levels in jejunal tissue in the ASA group compared to the control group. We found no change in SOD activity in either stomach or duodenal tissues in the ASA group compared to the control group. We observed decreased SOD activity in jejunal tissue in the ASA group compared to the control group (p<0.05). We detected no change in GSH activity in stomach, duodenal or jejunal tissues in the ASA group compared to the control group. The stomach damage was less in melatonin treated groups, but the lesions were not completely eliminated. The jejunum in the ASA group retained a nearly normal appearance. We found that melatonin exhibited some healing effects on ASA induced duodenal mucosal injury.
C1 [Taslidere, E.] Bezmialem Vakif Univ, Med Fac, Dept Histol & Embryol, Istanbul, Turkey.
[Vardi, N.; Yildiz, A.] Inonu Univ, Med Fac, Dept Histol & Embryol, Malatya, Turkey.
[Parlakpinar, H.] Inonu Univ, Med Fac, Dept Pharmacol, Malatya, Turkey.
[Taslidere, B.] Malatya State Hosp, Dept Emergency Med, Malatya, Turkey.
[Karaaslan, M. G.] Inonu Univ, Med Fac, Dept Biochem, Malatya, Turkey.