Investigating the effect of melatonin on serum changes of Adropin in patients with diabetic retinopathy, A randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to determine the effect of oral melatonin on adropin serum levels in patients with diabetic retinopathy(DR) Methods and Design: This randomized, single-blind clinical trial involved 22 patients with DR who received additional treatment of 3 mg/day melatonin for three months (group A) and 22 age-matched patients with DR who got only the routine treatments (group B) A complete ophthalmic examination, including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (based on LogMAR) and slit lamp examination, was done. DR grading was based on Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) guidelines. serum levels of adropin, MDA, and hs-CRP were measured and repeated after 3 months. Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographic characteristics and inferential statistics (Mann Whitney U test, Spearman's rank correlation test) were used to describe the characteristics of the population, and the statistical significance level was set at P < 0.05. Results: Significant differences between the melatonin and control groups (both before and after the treatment) were seen with MDA (P = 0.005) and Adropin (P = 0.001), but there were no significant differences between the biochemical parameter levels. Also, there were no Significant correlations between the changes in Adropin level with biochemical parameter levels in three months. Conclusions: In conclusion, our study suggests that using melatonin alongside routine DR treatments may increase serum adropin levels and decrease the oxidative stress and inflammatory process of diabetes for this reason we may consider a therapeutic role for melatonin in treating diabetic retinopathy.