CHANGES OF MELATONIN RECEPTOR IN RATS OF MALNUTRITION AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

To investigate the role of malnutrition on expression of thymus melatonin receptor(MR), rats were fed with low protein diet to induce an experimental animal model of malnutrition. MR was detected by radioligand binding assay. In malnourished rats before pregnancy and those during pregnancy, the thymus development in their offsprings was retarded, and the expression of MR was lower than that of the controls. After fed with standard diet,the development of the thymus and the MR in the infant rats improved significantly. The results suggest that malnutrition can retard the development of thymus, so the production of MR in thymus is lowered, and this may affect the physiological role of melatonin.