Cited by 291Antioxidant Activity and Oxidative StressCircadian rhythm and melatoninNeonatal and fetal brain pathology

Oxidative stress of the newborn in the pre‐ and postnatal period and the clinical utility of melatonin

Open access
Gitto, Eloisa, Pellegrino, Salvatore, Gitto, Placido, Barberi, Ignazio, Reiter, Russel J.·2009·Journal of Pineal Research

Abstract

Abstract: Newborns, and especially those delivered preterm, are probably more prone to oxidative stress than individuals later in life. Also during pregnancy, increased oxygen demand augments the rate of production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and women, even with normal pregnancies, experience elevated oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation compared with nonpregnant women. Also, there appears to be an increase in ROS generation in the placenta of pre‐eclamptic women. In comparison with healthy adults, newborn infants have lower levels of plasma antioxidants such as vitamin E, β‐carotene, and sulphydryl groups, lower levels of plasma metal binding proteins including ceruloplasmin and transferrin, and reduced activity of erythrocyte superoxide dismutase. This review summarizes conditions of newborns where there is elevated oxidative stress. Included in this group of conditions is asphyxia, respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis and the review also summarizes the literature related to clinical trials of antioxidant therapies and of melatonin, a highly effective antioxidant and free radical scavenger. The authors document there is general agreement that short‐term melatonin therapy may be highly effective and that it has a remarkably benign safety profile, even when neonates are treated with pharmacological doses. Significant complications with long‐term melatonin therapy in children and adults also have not been reported. None of the animal studies of maternal melatonin treatment or in postnatal life have shown any treatment‐related side effects. The authors conclude that treatment with melatonin might result in a wide range of health benefits, improved quality of life and reduced healthcare costs and may help reduce complications in the neonatal period.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1600-079x.2008.00649.x

Cites

183 of 183 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Administration of melatonin reduces oxidative stress in newborn infants exposed to infection or fetal distress.

    “it was shown that the administration of melatonin reduces oxidative stress in newborn infants exposed to infection or fetal distress,104”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Part of this paper’s reference list could not be split into single entries.

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Wisdom SJ, Wilson R, Mckillop JH, Walker JJ. Antiox- idant systems in normal pregnancy and in pregnancy hyper- tension. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1991; 6:1701-1705.
  2. Vanderlelie J, Venardos K, Clifton VL et al. Increased biological oxidation and reduced antioxidant enzyme activity in preeclamptic placentae. Placenta 2005; 26:53-58.
  3. Walsh SW, Wang Y. Trophoblast and placental villous coreproduction of lipid peroxides, thromboxane, and pros- tacyclin in preeclampsia. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1995; 80:1888-1893.
  4. Harris ED. Regulation of antioxidant enzymes. FASEB J 1992; 6:2675-2683.
  5. Huertas JR, Palomino N, Ochoa JJ et al. Lipid peroxida- tion and antioxidant erythrocyte membranes of full-term and preterm newborns. Biofactors 1998; 8:133-137.
  6. Mao GD, Thomas PD, Lopaschuk GD et al. Superoxide dismutase (SOD)-catalase conjugates. J Biol Chem 1993; 268:416-620.
  7. Simon L. Protection against toxic effect of sustained hyper- oxia on lung macrophages by superoxide dismutase. Clin Res 1980; 28:432A.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Gitto, E., Pellegrino, S., Gitto, P., Barberi, I., & Reiter, R. J.
Affiliations
  • University of Messina (IT)
  • The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
Corresponding author
Reiter, Russel J.
Venue
Journal of Pineal Research
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2009-01-29
Volume
46
Issue
2
Pages
128-139
ISSN
  • 0742-3098 (ISSN-L)
  • 1600-079X
OpenAlex
W2069866574
Cited by
291
References
183
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 22
FWCI
2.37
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Pineal Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry › Antioxidant Activity and Oxidative Stress
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Neonatal and fetal brain pathology
Keywords
oxidative stress, neonates, preterm birth, melatonin, reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, antioxidant therapy, neonatal asphyxia, respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal sepsis, superoxide dismutase, ceruloplasmin, vitamin E, pregnancy, preeclampsia, placenta
MeSH terms
Animals, Asphyxia Neonatorum, Clinical Trials as Topic, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Infant, Premature, Melatonin, Placenta, Pre-Eclampsia, Pregnancy, Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Free Radical Scavengers, Reactive Oxygen Species, Oxidative Stress, Sepsis

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review