Effect of melatonin administration and induction of hyperprolactinemia in the first third of pregnancy on the adrenal of pinealectomized female rats
Author(s): Fernanda das Chagas Angelo Mendes Tenorio, Edson João da Silva, Fernanda Miguel de Andrade, Manoel Adrião
Gomes Filho, Bruno Mendes Tenorio, Valeria Wanderley Teixeira, Álvaro Aguiar Coelho Teixeira
This study tested the hypothesis that the administration of melatonin and/or domperidone during the first third of pregnancy affects the
morphology of the adrenal of the pinealectomized rats. We used 35 albino rats divided in seven groups. Then, the rats were subjected to
pinealectomy and treated with melatonin and/or domperidone for 7 days. The female rats were weighed throughout pregnancy and then the
adrenal was removed for histological analysis. Statistical analysis of adrenal weights was performed by non-parametric tests.
The results demonstrated significant increases in the absolute and relative weights of adrenal in the pinealectomized group whose animals
were treated with domperidone, increased body weight in the groups of animals that were pinealectomized and treated with melatonin, and in
the pinealectomized animals treated with domperidone. Histological analysis revealed that the pinealectomized animals and the group treated
with domperidone showed a more enlarged and vacuolated zona fasciculada of the adrenal, whereas in the group of pinealectomized animals
treated with melatonin and domperidona the cells of the zona fasciculata were less vacuolated and the medulla was more vascularized, and
the appreciable presence hemosiderin. Thus, we conclude that pinealectomy associated with treatment with Domperidone stimulates the
adrenal further development, whereas melatonin may inhibit it.
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