Study summary · research use only
[Effect of epitalon and melatonin on life span and spontaneous carcinogenesis in senescence accelerated mice (SAM)]
Plain-language summary
Paraphrased from the published abstract below — not a verdict on whether anything works.
In this mouse study, female senescence-accelerated mice SAMP-1 (prone) and SAMR-1 (resistant) were given melatonin (in drinking water) or subcutaneous epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly, 1 mkg/mouse) five times weekly monthly, with intact or saline controls; body weight, temperature, food intake, estrous function, life span, and tumours were monitored. The authors report that neither treatment changed body weight, food intake, or temperature, but both prevented age-related irregular estrous cycles, and both were associated with longer mean and maximum survival among the last 10% of SAMP-1 survivors. Melatonin was associated with decreased aging rate. Neither treatment changed tumour incidence, though epitalon was associated with longer survival in tumour-free animals.
Abstract
Female senescence accelerated mice SAMP-1. (prone) and SAMR-1 (resistant) were exposed 5 times a week monthly to melatonin (with drinking water 20mg/ml during the night hours) or to s.c. injections of epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly) at a single dose 1mkg/mouse. Control mice were intact or exposed to injection of 0.1 ml normal saline. The body weight and temperature, food consumption, estrous function were monitored regularly. The life span and tumor incidence were evaluated as well. As age advanced, the weight increased whereas food consumption and body temperature did not change. There was no significant substrain difference in these parameters. Exposure to melatonin or epitalon also failed to influence those indices. As age advanced, the incidence of irregular estrous cycles increased both in SAMP-1 and SAMR-1, whereas the treatment with both melatonin and epitalon prevented such disturbances. SAMP-1 revealed some features of accelerated aging as compared to SAMR-1. The mean life span of the 10% of the last survivors among treated SAMP-1 was shorter than that of SAMR-1, aging rate increased and mortality doubling time decreased. There was a direct correlation between body mass of the two substrains at the age of 3 and 12 months matched by body mass increase and longer life span. Melatonin or epitalon treatment was followed by longer mean and maximum survival in the 10% of the last survivors among SAMP-1. Melatonin involved decreased aging rate and increased mortality doubling time. Malignant lymphomas predominated in SAM without any significant difference in frequency between the substrains. While melatonin failed to influence tumor incidence or term of detection in SAMP-1, neither did epitalon affect frequency. However, it was followed by longer survival in tumor-free animals. No link between melatonin or epitalon treatment, on the one hand, and carcinogenesis, on the other, was reported in SAMR-1.
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