Abstract
Stroke is one of the most devastating neurological disabilities and brain's vulnerability towards it proves to be fatal and socio-economic loss of millions of people worldwide. Ischemic stroke remains at the center stage of it, because of its prevalence amongst the several other types attacking the brain. The various cascades of events that have been associated with stroke involve oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, upregulation of Ca2+ level, and so forth. Melatonin is a neurohormone secreted by pineal and extra pineal tissues responsible for various physiological processes like sleep and mood behaviour. Melatonin has been implicated in various neurological diseases because of its antioxidative, antiapoptotic, and anti-inflammatory properties. We have previously reviewed the neuroprotective effect of melatonin in various models of brain injury like traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. In this review, we have put together the various causes and consequence of stroke and protective role of melatonin in ischemic stroke.
Highlights
The brain is a highly active metabolic and complex organ of our body that performs important functions, making it highly susceptible to different assaults
Stroke is a broad term that refers to a range of abnormalities that are caused by occlusion or haemorrhage of one of the main arteries supplying blood to brain tissues [8]
One of the major causes of disability in ischemic stroke is the curtailment of cerebral blood flow (CBF) to a critical threshold that propagates brain damage [9]
Summary
The brain is a highly active metabolic and complex organ of our body that performs important functions, making it highly susceptible to different assaults. Deprivation of oxygen by stroke is a major cause of severe neurological disability [12] This core region is surrounded by a zone of less severely affected tissue which is rendered functionally silent by reduced blood flow but remains metabolically active [13]. This surrounding region known as the ischemic penumbra may comprise as much as half of the total lesion volume during the initial phase of ischemia and represents the region in which there is opportunity for recovery via post-stroke therapy [14]. This review will explore the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS), excitotoxicity, apoptosis, and current pharmacological interventions by melatonin in ischemic stroke
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