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Effect of melatonin on normal and sclerodermic skin fibroblast proliferation
A M Carossino1, A Lombardi, M Matucci-Cerinic
1Institute of Internal Medicine IV, University of Florence, Italy.
Objective:
We studied the effect of melatonin (MLT) (N-acetyl 5-methoxytryptamine) on the growth rate of normal skin fibroblasts and of fibroblasts from involved and apparently uninvolved skin of patients affected by systemic sclerosis (SSc).
Methods:
The growth rate was evaluated on the basis of growth curves and a 3H-thymidine incorporation assay.
Results:
Our results demonstrate that a dose of 200 micrograms/ml of MLT inhibits (> 80%) both control and SSc fibroblasts. Inhibition was dose-dependent and was greater than 70% for MLT concentrations of 100 micrograms/ml, 200 micrograms/ml and 400 micrograms/ml. 3H-thymidine incorporation was correlated with the effect on the growth curves (81% at 200 micrograms/ml of MLT). In contrast, at a low dosage of 6 micrograms/ml, MLT exerted a stimulatory effect on cell proliferation in all the cell lines analyzed. Cell viability was not affected by MLT at any of the concentrations tested. A recovery study indicated that replacement of MLT-containing medium with MLT-free medium resulted in a re-establishment of cell growth.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that MLT, at higher dosages, is a potent inhibitor of the proliferation of fibroblasts derived from the skin of healthy and SSc patients.