Progress on the role of melatonin in resisting oxidative stress

Melatonin is the hormone secreted by the pineal gland,which has been initially studied for the use of regulating sleep.However,since the role of its resisting oxidative stress was discovered,lots of experiments show that melatonin is the powerful free radical scavenger.Not only itself but also its metabolites show brilliant antioxygen ability.At the same time,it can strengthen the activity of many antioxidase,and scavenge both oxygen free radicals and nitrogen free radicals.Great progress has been made in many fields including ischemic reperfusion injury,anticancer and restraining degeneration.This review mainly summarizes the study progress in antioxidative mechanisms of melatonin and its applications.