Komnatska K. Neuroprotective effects of melatonin in case of eye contusion injury (experimental study)

Equivocal an insufficient treatment results for visual analyzer injuries that have traumatic genesis and associate with the high levels of patient disability, are related to the absence of successful neuroprotectors which can effectively influence on all components of patho-biochemical cascade in retina and other structures of the eye, where morpho-functional integrity provides realization of visual functions, and provide rationale for medical and social importance of the invention and implementation of the drugs in this class. Melatonin possesses well known and deeply investigated pharmacological activities, that working in combination provide a fundament for its efficacy in eye ischemia and can become an important component for efficacy of the drug also in traumas. These are anti-hypoxic activity, antioxidant action, energy modulating effect, endothelioprotective effect, modulating effect on nitrogen monoxide system function, anti-neurotoxic and neuroprotective effects, antiapoptotic and antiproliferative effects, anxiolytic and actoprotective effects (the last is especially important in traumas). The results provide experimental rationale for the reasonability of production prototype development for the melatonin formulation for parenteral administration and the further clinical assessment of its protective action on the eye, which aims implementation of the drug into the practical system of public health with its new indication, namely as neuroprotector for contusion eye trauma. It was first established that the mechanisms of neuroprotective action of melatonin in conjunctiva of the organ of vision are realized by reducing the activity of the neuron-specific enolase and the level of protein S100 in the blood, decreasing the marker of apoptosis in the retina, corneal endothelium and epithelium of the lens, decreasing the marker of neuroglial proliferation, decreasing in the retina level carbonyl groups of proteins, malondialdehyde, nitrites and nitrates, glutamate and increased levels of ATP and glutathione peroxidase, an increase in the lowered intraocular pressure and renewal of ciliary perfusion at the microcirculatory level. The obtained results significantly widen the knowledge about the place and role of cytoprotectors in the therapy of the visual analyzer injuries of traumatic genesis.