Abstract

Emergence of a sudden novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), reported primarily in the Wuhan, Hubei province of China, changed the scenario of global medical science. Observing the increasing human loss and seriousness of the situation, World Health Organization (WHO) declared it as a global pandemic in March 2020. However, later it was defined as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses defined. In earlier stages of infection, COVID-19 was demonstrated as a lethal lung disease, but increasing reports regarding gastrointestinal (GI) complications clearly suggested GI tract as a possible route of SARS-CoV-2 infection and at the same time also indicated that SARS-CoV-2 in not confined to lungs only and may migrate to other vital organs. Further research revealed that SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis primarily through upregulation of different chemokines and interleukins, a situation termed as “cytokine storm”. In this regard, melatonin, an endogenous indolamine hormone, seems to be the most promising therapeutic agent to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 induced pathological states. Being a powerful antioxidant, immunomodulator and anti-inflammatory agent, implication of melatonin against COVID-19 induced GI complications cannot be neglected. Moreover, existence of the endogenous synthesizing machinery of melatonin distributed throughout the entire length of the GI tract adds on to its advantages over other therapeutic molecules. Despite of the fact that melatonin is reported to have no serious side effect at short- or long term use and even at high dose, but its implacability must undergo standard medical protocols before being applied to human beings

Keywords

COVID-19; Gastrointestinal symptoms; SARS-CoV-2; Melatonin; Antioxidant