Melatonin Activates Anti-Inflammatory Features in Microglia in a Multicellular Context: Evidence from Organotypic Brain Slices and HMC3 Cells.

Melatonin (MEL) is a neurohormone endowed with neuroprotective activity, exerted both directly on neuronal cells and indirectly through modulation of responsive glial cells. In particular, MEL's effects on microglia are receptor-mediated and in part dependent on SIRT1 activation. In the present study, we exploited the highly preserved cytoarchitecture of organotypic brain cultures (OC) to explore the effects of MEL on hippocampal microglia in a 3D context as compared to a single cell type context represented by the human HMC3 cell line.