Melatonin controls immune pathogenic/protective responses in the animal model of multiple sclerosis

What is it about?

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks myelin sheaths around neurons in the central nervous system, which are responsible for the correct transmission of nerve signals, causing disability and other symptoms of the disease. Melatonin is a natural compound with a low toxic profile that regulates the rhythm of sleep/wake, among other physiological rhythms, and is also able to regulate the activity of the immune system. We tested melatonin on the animal model of multiple sclerosis (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, EAE), and found that melatonin reduced the numbers and activity of two important immune populations that are implicated in starting and sustaining the attack to the myelin, while increasing the numbers of a protective immune population.

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Why is it important?

Currently there is no cure for multiple sclerosis, only treatments that control the damage in the central nervous system, but they are very costly and might cause important side effects. We showed, for the first time, that melatonin can regulate the main immune pathogenic and protective populations, ameliorating the disease in the animal model. Melatonin is a quite cheap and non-toxic compound, and this work suggest that melatonin might be a treatment option for multiple sclerosis.