Brain cellular functions decline with normal aging, accompanied by a changing profile of gene expression. Gene array analysis was used to quantitatively estimate messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels in the cerebral cortex of both young (4-month) and old (27-month) B6C3F1 male mice. A stringent degree of significance was obtained by using multiple gene chips. Out of 12,423 mRNA levels, only 25 changed significantly with age. Nine of these genes coded for inflammatory proteins, all of which were elevated in aged, relative to younger mice. Melatonin (200 p.p.m.) included in the diet of aged animals for 8 wk elevated serum and cortical melatonin and reversed 13 of the 25 genes altered with age. In no case did melatonin potentiate age-related changes in gene expression. The restoration of a more youthful gene profile to brains of aged animals by melatonin, to a large extent, involves reversal of age-induced elevation of basal inflammatory parameters.

中文翻译：

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饮食中褪黑激素可调节小鼠中枢神经系统mRNA基因表达的年龄相关变化。

正常衰老会导致脑细胞功能下降，并伴随着基因表达的变化。基因阵列分析用于定量评估B6C3F1雄鼠（4个月龄）和大龄（27个月龄）雄性小鼠大脑皮质的信使RNA（mRNA）表达水平。通过使用多个基因芯片获得了严格的意义。在12,423个mRNA水平中，只有25个随年龄变化显着。这些基因中有9个编码炎症蛋白，相对于年幼的小鼠，所有这些蛋白在老年时都升高。老年动物的饮食中包括褪黑激素（200 ppm），用于血清和皮质褪黑激素升高8周，并随着年龄的增长而改变了25个基因中的13个。褪黑激素在任何情况下都不会增强与年龄相关的基因表达变化。