Melatonin attenuates methamphetamine-induced toxic effects on dopamine and serotonin terminals in mouse brain.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a drug of abuse that causes deleterious effects to brain monoaminergic systems. These toxic effects are thought to be due to oxidative stress. The pineal hormone, melatonin, has been shown to have neuroprotective effects against toxic quinones and oxidative stress produced by catecholamines. The present study was thus undertaken to assess possible protective effects of melatonin against METH-induced neurotoxic effects on the striatum and the nucleus accumbens by using autoradiographic techniques. Four dosages (5, 20, 40, 80 mg/kg) of melatonin were administered to mice intraperitoneally 30 minutes prior to the injections of METH (4 x 5 mg/kg) given at 2-hour intervals. The lowest doses of melatonin (5 mg/kg) had no significant effects against METH-induced toxicity. However, the higher doses (40 or 80 mg/kg) of melatonin significantly attenuated METH-induced toxic effects on both dopamine and serotonin systems. These data provide further evidence for a possible role of oxidative stress in METH-induced toxicity.