Melatonin alleviates lipopolysaccharide-compromised integrity of blood-brain barrier through activating AMP-activated protein kinase in old mice.

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction is considered to be an early event in the pathogenesis of a variety of neurological diseases in old patients, and this could occur in old people even when facing common stress. However, the mechanism remains to be defined. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that decreased melatonin levels may account for the BBB disruption in old mice challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which mimicked the common stress of sepsis.