Xinmu Zhang, Bin Peng, Shenqi Zhang, Jian Wang, Xiong Yuan, Sharon Peled, Wu Chen, Jinyin Ding, Wei Li, Andrew Zhang, Qiaofeng Wu, Irina G Stavrovskaya, Chengliang Luo, Bharati Sinha, Yanyang Tu, Xiaojing Yuan, Mingchang Li, Shuqing Liu, Jianfang Fu, Ali Aziz-Sultan, Bruce S Kristal, Gil Alterovitz, Rose Du, Shuanhu Zhou, Xin Wang
Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Novel and effective therapies for ischemic stroke are urgently needed. Here, we report that melatonin receptor 1A (MT1) agonist ramelteon is a neuroprotective drug candidate as demonstrated by comprehensive experimental models of ischemic stroke, including a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) mouse model of cerebral ischemia in vivo, organotypic hippocampal slice cultures ex vivo, and cultured neurons in vitro; the neuroprotective effects of ramelteon are diminished in MT1-knockout (KO) mice and MT1-KO cultured neurons...
November 20, 2023: Journal of Pineal Research