Melatonin Attenuates Early Brain Injury Following Subarachnoid Hemorrhage In Rats

Objective:To investigate the effect of melatonin on early brain injury (EBI) following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).Methods:All69Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three groups:sham group(sham+vehicle), SAH group(SAH+vehicle), and SAH+MEL group(SAH+melatonin). The melatonin (150mg/kg) as well as an equal volume of vehicle was administered at2hr after subarachnoid hemorrhage. The difference of mortality, neurological scores, brain edema, the integrity of blood-brain barrier, cell apoptosis, and expression levels of caspase-3between different groups of rats were evaluated at24hr after subarachnoid hemorrhage.Result:Compared with SAH group, treatment of melatonin significantly reduced mortality, neural apoptosis, brain edema, Evan’s blue dye extravasation, expression level of caspase-3, and improved neurological scores.Conclusion:Melatonin may protect against early brain injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage via inhibiting neural apoptosis and stabilizing the blood-brain barrier.