Role of Melatonin Supplementation on Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Markers in Critically Ill Patients

Critically ill patients are diagnosed with signs such as oxidative stress, mitochondrial function impairment, dysfunction of the immune system, and acute inflammation. Inflammation and oxidative stress play a major role in the pathogenicity of most diseases in patients, especially those in intensive care units. Because of the side effects of chemical anti-inflammatory drugs, which include large intestinal ulcers, bleeding, and perforation, it seems that the use of natural anti-inflammatory compounds like melatonin could be very helpful. Melatonin productively interacts with different receptive nitrogen and oxygen species (receptor autonomous activities), up-regulates antioxidant chemicals, and down-regulates pro-oxidant chemicals (receptor-dependent activities). Melatonin attenuates molecular and cellular damage resulting from inflammation and oxidative stress. Previous studies have shown that melatonin reduces inflammation and oxidative stress levels. Thus, the use of safe doses of melatonin can reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. However, further studies are needed to verify these results.