Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate the effect of melatonin treatment on some serum immunoregulatory cytokine levels in rats exposed to chronic cadmium toxicity. For this purpose, animals (n = 32) were divided randomly into four equal groups as untreated control (C), cadmium (Cd), melatonin (Mlt) and Cd + Mlt (CdMlt). The rats in Cd and CdMlt groups received cadmium chloride (CdCl2) (2 mg/kg/day) orally by gastric gavage three times a week for 4 weeks. On the other hand, Mlt (100 mg/kg/day) was orally administrated to Mlt and CdMlt groups five times a week for 4 weeks. C group was not received any treatment. After the treatments, the animals were sacrificed and blood samples were taken to without anticoagulant tubes. Then, levels of IL-1β, IL-2, IL- 6, TNF-α, and INFγ in the serum were determined. It was not found any change among the groups according to IL-1β, IL-2, and IL-6 levels (p>0,05). Besides, the administration of Mlt ameliorated the TNF-α levels in CdMlt group compared to Cd (p<0,05). IFNγ levels were found the highest in C and Mlt groups compared to Cd (p<0,05). In conclusion, Mlt treatment caused a significant change only in TNF-α levels in rats exposed to Cd.