Turgut Mehmet, Kaplan Süleyman, Unal Burçin Zeynep, Bozkurt Mehmet, Yürüker Sinan, Yenisey Cigdem, Sahin Bünyamin, Uyanıkgil Yigit, Baka Meral
Department of Neurosurgery, Adnan Menderes University School of Medicine, Aydin, Turkey.
J Brachial Plex Peripher Nerve Inj. 2010 Apr 21;5:10. doi: 10.1186/1749-7221-5-10.
Although the injury to the peripheral nervous system is a common clinical problem, understanding of the role of melatonin in nerve degeneration and regeneration is incomplete.
The current study investigated the effects of neonatal pinealectomy on the sciatic nerve microarchitecture in the chicken. The chickens were divided into two equal groups: unpinealectomized controls and pinealectomized chickens. At the end of the study, biochemical examination of 10 sciatic nerve samples from both groups was performed and a quantitative stereological evaluation of 10 animals in each group was performed. The results were compared using Mann-Whitney test.
In this study, the results of axon number and thickness of the myelin sheath of a nerve fiber in newly hatched pinealectomy group were higher than those in control group. Similarly, surgical pinealectomy group had significantly larger axonal cross-sectional area than the control group (p < 0.05). In addition, the average hydroxyproline content of the nerve tissue in neonatal pinealectomy group was higher than those found in control group. Our results suggest that melatonin may play a role on the morphologic features of the peripheral nerve tissue and that melatonin deficiency might be a pathophysiological mechanism in some degenerative diseases of peripheral nerves. The changes demonstrated by quantitative morphometric methods and biochemical analysis has been interpreted as a reflection of the effects of melatonin upon nerve tissue.
In the light of these results from present animal study, changes in sciatic nerve morphometry may be indicative of neuroprotective feature of melatonin, but this suggestion need to be validated in the human setting.
尽管周围神经系统损伤是常见的临床问题，但对于褪黑素在神经退变和再生中的作用仍了解不足。
本研究调查了新生雏鸡松果体切除对坐骨神经微观结构的影响。将雏鸡分为两组：未行松果体切除的对照组和松果体切除组。研究结束时，对两组的10个坐骨神经样本进行生化检测，并对每组10只动物进行定量体视学评估。结果采用曼-惠特尼检验进行比较。
在本研究中，新生松果体切除组神经纤维的轴突数量和髓鞘厚度结果高于对照组。同样，手术松果体切除组的轴突横截面积显著大于对照组（p < 0.05）。此外，新生松果体切除组神经组织的平均羟脯氨酸含量高于对照组。我们的结果表明，褪黑素可能对外周神经组织的形态特征起作用，褪黑素缺乏可能是某些外周神经退行性疾病的病理生理机制。定量形态学方法和生化分析所显示的变化被解释为褪黑素对神经组织作用的反映。
根据目前动物研究的这些结果，坐骨神经形态测量的变化可能表明褪黑素具有神经保护作用，但这一观点需要在人体中得到验证。
