The anti-arrhythmic benefit of melatonin is distinct from its antioxidant effect – ScienceDaily

Antiarrhythmic agents are substances that treat the irregular electrical activities of the heart. It has already been shown that melatonin has anti-arrhythmic effects, baduming that this is due to its known antioxidant properties. In this current study, an international team of researchers examined precisely how melatonin affects the heart in a rat heart attack model.

One group of rats received 10 mg of melatonin a day for seven days, while another group received a placebo. The researchers then measured the electrical activity in the heart of the rats before, during and after a cardiac event. They then examined the hearts for oxidative stress measurements and antioxidant activity.

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) are two types of hazardous irregular electrical activity in the heart that can result from a heart attack. The incidence of TV and VF was reduced in rats treated with melatonin. A marker of antioxidant activity was also higher in the treated rats. However, there was no badociation between the presence of oxidative stress and the incidence of irregular electrical activity.

In previous work, the research team found that blocking specific melatonin receptors suppresses the antiarrhythmic benefits of melatonin. These results, combined with the present study, suggest that the protective effects of melatonin on the heart "are related to its antiarrhythmic action, and that this effect is related not to antioxidant properties, but to the stimulation of melatonin receptors. ", said senior author Jan Azarov, PhD of the Komi Science Center, Komi Republic, Russian Federation.

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