Radical-trapping and preventive antioxidant effects of 2-hydroxymelatonin and 4-hydroxymelatonin: Contributions to the melatonin protection against oxidative stress.

BACKGROUND: Melatonin is well known for its antioxidant capacity, which has been attributed to the combined protective effects of the parent molecule and its metabolites. However, the potential role of 2-hydroxymelatonin (2OHM) and 4-hydroxymelatonin (4OHM) in such protection has not been previously investigated. METHODS: The calculations were performed using the Density Functional Theory, with the M05-2X and M05 functionals, the 6-311+G(d,p) basis set and the solvation model based on density (SMD). RESULTS: 4OHM shows excellent antioxidant activity via radical-trapping, reacting with peroxyl radicals faster than Trolox and melatonin. 4OHM can be moderately efficient as a preventing antioxidant by inhibiting Cu(II). This effect would lower the Cu(I) availability, which is the redox state required for the OH to be formed, via Fenton-like reactions. 4OHM turns off the oxidant effects of copper-ascorbate mixtures. The presence of a phenolic group was identified as the key structural feature in the antioxidant activity of 4OHM. On the other hand, 2OHM does not present a phenolic group, despite its formal name. Its keto tautomer was identified as the most abundant one (~100%). This may explain the relative low antioxidant protection of 2OHM. CONCLUSIONS: 4OHM significantly contributes to the overall antioxidant activity exhibited by melatonin, while the effects of 2OHM in this context are predicted to be only minor. This low reactivity might justify the relatively large abundance of 2OHM in biological systems. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: Hydroxylated melatonin metabolites, such as 4OHM, may play an important role in the protective effects of melatonin against oxidative stress.

Phenolic Melatonin-Related Compounds: Their Role as Chemical Protectors against Oxidative Stress.

There is currently no doubt about the serious threat that oxidative stress (OS) poses to human health. Therefore, a crucial strategy to maintain a good health status is to identify molecules capable of offering protection against OS through chemical routes. Based on the known efficiency of the phenolic and melatonin (MLT) families of compounds as antioxidants, it is logical to assume that phenolic MLT-related compounds should be (at least) equally efficient. Unfortunately, they have been less investigated than phenols, MLT and its non-phenolic metabolites in this context. The evidence reviewed here strongly suggests that MLT phenolic derivatives can act as both primary and secondary antioxidants, exerting their protection through diverse chemical routes. They all seem to be better free radical scavengers than MLT and Trolox, while some of them also surpass ascorbic acid and resveratrol. However, there are still many aspects that deserve further investigations for this kind of compounds.

Diabetes and Alzheimer disease, two overlapping pathologies with the same background: oxidative stress.

There are several oxidative stress-related pathways interconnecting Alzheimer's disease and type II diabetes, two public health problems worldwide. Coincidences are so compelling that it is attractive to speculate they are the same disorder. However, some pathological mechanisms as observed in diabetes are not necessarily the same mechanisms related to Alzheimer's or the only ones related to Alzheimer's pathology. Oxidative stress is inherent to Alzheimer's and feeds a vicious cycle with other key pathological features, such as inflammation and Ca(2+) dysregulation. Alzheimer's pathology by itself may lead to insulin resistance in brain, insulin resistance being an intervening variable in the neurodegenerative disorder. Hyperglycemia and insulin resistance from diabetes, overlapping with the Alzheimer's pathology, aggravate the progression of the neurodegenerative processes, indeed. But the same pathophysiological background is behind the consequences, oxidative stress. We emphasize oxidative stress and its detrimental role in some key regulatory enzymes.

Accumulation of exogenous amyloid-beta peptide in hippocampal mitochondria causes their dysfunction: a protective role for melatonin.

Amyloid-beta (Aß) pathology is related to mitochondrial dysfunction accompanied by energy reduction and an elevated production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Monomers and oligomers of Aß have been found inside mitochondria where they accumulate in a time-dependent manner as demonstrated in transgenic mice and in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. We hypothesize that the internalization of extracellular Aß aggregates is the major cause of mitochondrial damage and here we report that following the injection of fibrillar Aß into the hippocampus, there is severe axonal damage which is accompanied by the entrance of Aß into the cell. Thereafter, Aß appears in mitochondria where it is linked to alterations in the ionic gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane. This effect is accompanied by disruption of subcellular structure, oxidative stress, and a significant reduction in both the respiratory control ratio and in the hydrolytic activity of ATPase. Orally administrated melatonin reduced oxidative stress, improved the mitochondrial respiratory control ratio, and ameliorated the energy imbalance.

Kinetics of the neuroinflammation-oxidative stress correlation in rat brain following the injection of fibrillar amyloid-beta onto the hippocampus in vivo.

The purpose of this study was to describe-following the injection of a single intracerebral dose of fibrillar amyloid-beta(1-40) in vivo-some correlations between proinflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress indicators in function of time, as well as how these variables fit in a regression model. We found a positive, significant correlation between interleukin (IL)-1beta or IL-6 and the activity of the glutathione peroxidase enzyme (GSH-Px), but IL-1beta or IL-6 maintained a strong, negative correlation with the lipid peroxidation (LPO). The first 12 h marked a positive correlation between IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), but starting from the 36 h, this relationship became negative. We found also particular patterns of behavior through the time for IL-1beta, nitrites and IL-6, with parallel or sequential interrelationships. Results shows clearly that, in vivo, the fibrillar amyloid-beta (Abeta) disrupts the oxidative balance and initiate a proinflammatory response, which in turn feeds the oxidative imbalance in a coordinated, sequential way. This work contributes to our understanding of the positive feedbacks, focusing the "cytokine cycle" along with the oxidative stress mediators in a complex, multicellular, and interactive environment.