Histological study of the protective effect of melatonin on neural cells after neonatal hypoxia-ischemia

To minimize as much as possible the neurological consequences from hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury, neuroprotective strategies are urgently required. In this sense, there is growing interest in the neuroprotective potential of melatonin after perinatal asphyxia, due to its high efficacy, low toxicity and ready cross through the blood-brain barrier. Twenty six Wistar rats at postnatal day 7 were randomly assigned to: two hypoxic-ischemic groups: pups with the left common carotid artery ligated and then submitted to hypoxia (HI group) and animals that received a dose of 15 mg/kg melatonin just after the hypoxic-ischemic event and repeated twice with an interval of 24 hours (HI+MEL group). Pups without ischemia or hypoxia were used as controls (Sham group). Seven days after surgery, brains were collected and coronal sections Nissl-stained, TUNEL-labeled, or MBP- and GFAP-immunolabeled prior to determining brain infarct area, quantify surviving neurons and evaluate oligodendroglial injury and reactive astrogliosis. The number of surviving neurons showing a well preserved architecture in HI+MEL group was similar to that observed in the Sham group. Moreover, TUNEL-positive cells only appeared in the HI group. The ratio of left-to-right hemispheric MBP immunostaining showed a significant decrease in the HI group in comparison with Sham pups, which was restored after melatonin administration. Melatonin also reduced reactive gliosis. Thus, our results suggest that treatment with melatonin after neonatal hypoxia-ischemia led to a neuroprotective effect reducing cell death, white matter demyelination and reactive astrogliosis.