Published 2018-12-30
Keywords
- Fibromyalgia,
- Mitochondria,
- Melatonin,
- Oxidative stress
How to Cite
Abstract
Fibromyalgia (FM) is considered as one of the most common musculoskeletal disorder asso- ciated with a chronic pain condition. The principal characteristic of this condition is a wide- spread pain often associated with sleep disorders, fatigue and consequent anxiety and/or depression. Due to the prevalence of this pathology, recent studies aimed at increasing under- standing of both its pathogenesis and treatment have been conducted, but the knowledge is far behind other chronic illnesses in both mechanism understanding as well as appropriate thera- peutic approaches [1]. Recent studies reported that in FM patients the metabolism of a pow- erful antioxidant that is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), called also ubiquinone, is altered showing a new potential marker for this disorder. For study FM several potential animal models have been described, among that reserpine-induced myalgia (RIM) rats are considered a putative model of this pathology showing musculoskeletal alterations and also depressive-like behav- iours. Recent evidences suggest that melatonin, an indoleamine with multitasking properties, among which anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects, may be suitable in FM treatment [2].
In this study, we hypothesized that dietary melatonin administration in RIM animal model would support anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant response in skeletal muscles reducing so the FM symptoms. In particular we focalized our attention to mitochondrial involvement investi- gating the roles of CoQ10, mitofusin 2 (MFN2) and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC1α) expression.
Our results showed that melatonin modulates mitochondria homeostasis and oxidative stress in RIM rats.
In summary this study showed that melatonin could be a potential tool in the prevention and treatment of FM symptoms.
Acknowledgment. Sincere thanks to Flamma S.p.A.-Italy (www.flammagroup.com) for cour- teously providing the melatonin and for the precious economic support to this study.