Melatonin prevents oxidative stress, inflammatory activity, and DNA damage in cirrhotic rats

Table 1 Activity of lipid peroxidation levels, antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase, and nitric oxide levels in the experimental groups

Groups	TBARS	SOD	NO2/NO3
CO	0.29 ± 0.01	2.62 ± 0.11	1.69 ± 0.08
CO + MLT	0.34 ± 0.02	2.43 ± 0.05	1.76 ± 0.09
BDL	3.43 ± 0.08a	0.61 ± 0.05a	5.53 ± 0.30a
BDL + MLT	0.46 ± 0.01b	2.30 ± 0.07b	2.48 ± 0.36b

^aP < 0.001: Significant increase in the bile duct ligation group in relation to the control and CO + melatonin groups.

^bP < 0.001: Significant reduction in the BDL + MLT group in relation to the BDL group.

CO: Control; MLT: Melatonin; BDL: Bile duct ligation; TBARS: Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances; SOD: Superoxide dismutase.

Table 2 Comet assay in liver tissue of rats that underwent bile duct ligation treated or not with melatonin

Group	Damage index	Damage frequency
CO	77.4 ± 8.6	72.2 ± 7.3
CO + MLT	72.6 ± 16.2	67.8 ± 14.8
BDL	295.5 ± 34.8a	100.0 ± 0.0c
BDL + MLT	171.6 ± 32.9b	91.6 ± 9.5

The damage index can range from 0 (completely undamaged, 100 cells × 0) to 400 (with maximum damage 100 × 4). The damage frequency was calculated based on the number of cells with vs without tails.

^aP < 0.001: Significant increase in the bile duct ligation group in relation to the control and CO + melatonin groups.

^bP < 0.001: Significant reduction in the BDL + MLT group in relation to the BDL group.

^cP < 0.01: Significant increase in the BDL group in relation to the CO and CO + MLT groups.

CO: Control; MLT: Melatonin; BDL: Bile duct ligation; TBARS: Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances.

Table 3 Micronucleus test in the bone marrow of the rats that underwent bile duct ligation, treated or not with melatonin

Groups	MNPCE1 in 2000 PCE	Ratio PCE/NCE2
CO	4.0 ± 1.5	1.1 ± 0.2
CO + MLT	3.3 ± 1.0	1.1 ± 0.4
BDL	7.8 ± 1.3a	1.0 ± 0.6
BDL + MLT	6.8 ± 1.9	0.9 ± 0.5

¹MNPCE: Micronuclei in polychromatic erythrocytes.

²PCE/NCE ratio: Proportion of polychromatic erythrocytes/normochromatic erythrocytes.

^aP < 0.01: Significant increase in the bile duct ligation group in relation to the control and CO + melatonin groups. (Analysis of variance, Tukey test).

CO: Control; MLT: Melatonin; BDL: Bile duct ligation.