Felipe A Beñaldo, Aníbal J Llanos, Claudio Araya-Quijada, Auristela Rojas, Alejandro Gonzalez-Candia, Emilio A Herrera, Germán Ebensperger, Gertrudis Cabello, Guillermo J Valenzuela, María Serón-Ferré
Neonatal lambs, as other neonates, have physiologically a very low plasma melatonin concentration throughout 24 h. Previously, we found that melatonin given to neonates daily for 5 days decreased heart weight and changed plasma cortisol and gene expression in the adrenal and heart. Whether these changes could compromise the responses to life challenges is unknown. Therefore, firstly, we studied acute effects of melatonin on the defense mechanisms to acute hypoxia in the neonate. Eleven lambs, 2 weeks old, were instrumented and subjected to an episode of acute isocapnic hypoxia, consisting of four 30 min periods: normoxia (room air), normoxia after an i...
2019: Frontiers in Endocrinology