Effect of melatonin on oxidative stress of differentiated Dopaminergic cells

Background Although stem cells therapies provide a great deal in the treatment of several disease, they lack their normal functions after transplantation due to inflammation and oxidative stress. Melatonin has a powerful antioxidant ability and can enhance the effect of stem cells. Objectives This work aimed to investigate the melatonin’s effect on oxidative stress of differentiated adipose-mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) to dopaminergic (DAergic) cells. Material and methods The AD-MSCs cells were characterized after passage 3 by flow cytometry method and divided into four groups: (a) control group that was nontreated AD-MSCs, (b) MSCs+M group that was AD-MSCs cultured with 1 μM melatonin in expansion media for 12 days, (c) DN group that was MSCs treated with neurobasal A media for 12 days, (d) DN+M group which was MSCs cultured with 1 μM melatonin and neurobasal A media for 12 days. After 12 days, the catalase (CAT) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) level were measured by using ELISA. Also, the gene expression level of MAP-2 was detected. Results and conclusion The current study proved that the isolated cells were MSCs due to high expression percentages for CD73 and CD90 and low expression percentages for CD34 and CD45. The DN+M group showed the highest expression of MAP-2 gene when compared to the other different groups (P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, there was a significant increase in CAT concentration in groups treated with melatonin than other group (P ≤ 0.05), while, there was no change in MDA level between all groups. It was concluded that melatonin has an effective antioxidative role throughout the differentiation process of AD-MSCs into DAergic neural cells