Abstract
PURPOSE: To compare the protective effects of the potent antioxidants, melatonin and octreotide, against radiation-induced intestinal injury.
METHODS: A total of 42 male 3-month-old Swiss albino mice (40 ± 10 g) were matched according to body weight and randomly assigned to one of six groups: control; radiation treatment (RT) only; melatonin only (15 mg/kg, i.p.); melatonin + RT; octreotide only (50 μg/kg i.p.); and octreotide + RT. Intestinal damage was induced by exposure to a single whole-body radiation dose of 8 Gy. All mice tolerated the experimental interventions, and no deaths were observed.
RESULTS: Irradiation induced architectural disorganization, including inflammatory mononuclear cell infiltration, villitis, and desquamation with eosinophilic necrosis, and diminished mucosal thickness, crypt height, and villous height. In the melatonin + RT and octreotide + RT groups, the villous pattern was well preserved; desquamation at villous tips and edema was prominent, but necrosis was absent. The radiation-induced decrease in mucosal thickness was significantly reduced by pretreatment with melatonin (p < 0.001) or octreotide (p = 0.01), although the protective effect was significantly greater for melatonin (p = 0.04). Pretreatment with melatonin also preserved villous height (p = 0.009) and crypt height (p = 0.03); although a similar trend was observed for pre-irradiation octreotide, the differences were not significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Melatonin and octreotide potently protected against radiation-induced intestinal injury in mice, but melatonin was significantly more effective in preserving the histological structure of the intestines, a finding that warrants confirmation in clinical studies.
See also:
- Official Web Site: The Di Bella Method;
- Melatonin use in cancer patients have started in 1974, when melatonin prepared according to Prof. Di Bella’s formulation [...]. For 11 days was administered to the patient, admitted to the general medical ward at the Maggiore-Pizzardi Hospital in Bologna, very slowly (over approx. 8 hours) and intravenously administered 1000 mg of melatonin for 11 days. During the course of each day, the patient was intravenously administered 4 saline drips of 500 ml, each containing ten 25 mg bottles of freeze-dried melatonin, lasting 2 hours, totaling 1000 mg per day. No other drug of any kind was administered in order to ascertain the effect of the MLT without interference [...]. From Melatonin with adenosine solubilized in water and stabilized with glycine for oncological treatment - technical preparation, effectivity and clinical findings;
- About Melatonin - In vitro, review and in vivo publications;
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- Publication: Key aspects of melatonin physiology: 30 years of research (from Di Bella's Foundation);
- Somatostatin in oncology, the overlooked evidences - In vitro, review and in vivo publications;
- Publication, 2018 Jul: Over-Expression of GH/GHR in Breast Cancer and Oncosuppressor Role of Somatostatin as a Physiological Inhibitor (from Di Bella's Foundation);
- Publication, 2019 Aug: The Entrapment of Somatostatin in a Lipid Formulation: Retarded Release and Free Radical Reactivity (from Di Bella's Foundation);
- Publication, 2019 Sep: Effects of Somatostatin and Vitamin C on the Fatty Acid Profile of Breast Cancer Cell Membranes (from Di Bella's Foundation);
- Publication, 2019 Sep: Effects of somatostatin, curcumin, and quercetin on the fatty acid profile of breast cancer cell membranes (from Di Bella's Foundation);
- Publication, 2020 Sep: Two neuroendocrine G protein-coupled receptor molecules, somatostatin and melatonin: Physiology of signal transduction and therapeutic perspectives (from Di Bella's Foundation);
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