Potential therapeutic value of melatonin in diabetic nephropathy: improvement beyond anti-oxidative stress

Abstract

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a common complication of diabetes, and it is also the main cause of chronic renal failure. Physiological/pathological changes mediated by high glucose are the main factors causing injury of DN, including the enhancement of polyol pathway, the accumulation of advanced glycation products (AGEs), and the activation of protein kinase C (PKC) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signals. In addition, the abnormal activation of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and oxidative stress are also involved. Melatonin is a physiological hormone mainly secreted by the pineal gland which has been proved to be related to diabetes. Studies have shown that exogenous melatonin intervention can reduce blood glucose and alleviate high glucose mediated pathological damage. At the same time, melatonin also has a strong antioxidant effect, and can inhibit the activation of RAS. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the therapeutic effect and value of melatonin on DN.

Keywords:

• Melatonin
• diabetic nephropathy
• DN
• oxidative stress

Disclosure statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81870548, 81570721], Key Research and Development Projects of Social Development in Jiangsu Province, China [BE2018692], the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China [BK20191222, BK20151331], the High Caliber Medical Personnel Foundation of Jiangsu Province [LGY2016053], the Six Talent Peaks Project in Jiangsu Province [2015-WSN-006], and the 169-Phase V Science Research Project of Zhenjiang.