["To analyze whether the antioxidant melatonin could reduce the hyperoxidative status in the blood of patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy.", 'Ten patients aged 12.8±0.9 years were treated with melatonin (60mg at 21:00h plus 10mg at 09:00h) for 9 months, and erythrocyte markers of oxidative stress were determined at 3, 6, and 9 months of treatment. Healthy age- and sex-matched subjects served as controls.', 'Prior to treatment, the patients had higher glutathione disulfide/glutathione ratio and higher glutathione transferase and superoxide dismutase activities, and lower glutathione reductase activity than controls. After 3 months of melatonin treatment, the hyperoxidative status of these patients was counteracted, being reduced to the normal redox state between 3 and 9 months.'] Does melatonin treatment counteract the hyperoxidative status in erythrocytes of patients suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy?