One treatment choice for patients with coronary artery disease is coronary artery bypass
graft surgery (CABG) with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). After CABG, a series of
inflammatory processes occur which affect other organs of the body and even cause severe
organ damage and subsequently a worse prognosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate
the effect of pre-surgically administered Melatonin (MTN) on interleukins 22 and 13 in patients
undergoing CABG. In this clinical trial study, 22 patients were evaluated, 10 patients (45.5%)
in the MTN group, and 12 patients in the placebo group. The MTN group received 10 mg/day of
MTN and the placebo group received placebo 2 weeks before surgery. Serum interleukin 13 (IL-
13) and interleukin 22 (IL-22) levels were measured two weeks before surgery (T1), on the day
of surgery before induction (T2), 6 hrs. after removal of the pump by the cardiac surgeon (T3),
and 2 days after surgery (T4). The mean level of IL-22 at all time points in T2, T3, and T4 was
significantly lower in the MTN group (P <0.05). There was also a significant increase in IL-22
in both groups at T4 compared to T1. The levels of IL-13 were also decreased, however, in the
MTN group, the difference was only significant at T2 compared to T1 for IL-13. The current
study found that taking melatonin for two weeks before having CABG can help to minimize
inflammation and inflammatory biomarkers including IL-22 and IL-13 after the procedure.