ArticleBMC oral health2026
Ameliorative effects of melatonin on radiotherapy-induced apoptotic and inflammatory responses in rat parotid gland.
Article in BMC oral health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRadiotherapy-induced parotid gland injury is a major contributor to salivary hypofunction and xerostomia in head-and-neck cancer management. This study aimed to evaluate the differential radiobiological effects of flattening filter (FF) and flattening filter-free (FFF) 6 MV photon beams, delivered as single-dose or fractionated-dose regimens, on apoptotic, inflammatory, and angiogenic gene expression in rat parotid tissue, and to assess the potential radioprotective action of melatonin.
methodsFemale Sprague-Dawley rats (8-10 weeks old) were randomized into ten groups and irradiated with either a single 16 Gy dose or a fractionated-dose protocol (6.4 Gy × 5) using FF or FFF beams. Melatonin (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) was administered 15 min before irradiation. Parotid glands were collected 10 days post-irradiation, and mRNA expression levels of Bax, Bid, Casp3, Bcl2, Bcl2l1, Il1b, Tnf, and Vegfa were quantified by RT-qPCR.
resultsIrradiation significantly upregulated pro-apoptotic (Bax, Bid, Casp3) and pro-inflammatory (Il1b, Tnf) transcripts, along with Vegfa, while downregulating anti-apoptotic markers (Bcl2, Bcl2l1). These molecular alterations were more pronounced following FFF-beam and fractionated-dose. Melatonin pretreatment markedly attenuated radiation-induced gene expression changes, restored Bcl2 and Bcl2l1 levels, and normalized the Bcl2/Bcl2l1 ratio.
conclusionMelatonin effectively mitigates key apoptotic, inflammatory, and angiogenic responses associated with radiation-induced parotid gland injury. These findings support melatonin as a potential radioprotective adjunct during head-and-neck irradiation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.