Chapter category: Neuropharmacology
Melatonin: A Chronobiotic that Not Only Shifts Rhythms
Melatonin: Biological Basis of its Function in Health and Disease
Edited by: S.R. Pandi-Perumal and Daniel P. CardinaliISBN: 1-58706-244-5
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Chapter authors:
Dieter Kunz, Richard Mahlberg
Today, a chronobiotic is defined as a substance capable of shifting the phase of the CTS and reentraining circadian rhythms that have been dissociated in the short-term, or desynchronized in the long-term. The most widely recognized chronobiotic is melatonin. Its phase-shifting effects have been studied extensively. Surprisingly, the synchronizing effects of exogenous melatonin in patients suffering from long-term desynchronization (such as shift workers or the elderly) have not yet been tested. The chief goal of this manuscript is to bring this characteristic of melatonin back into the spotlight and emphasize that melatonin is a chronobiotic with multiple time-dependent effects. Another important goal of this paper is to stress that melatonin is a potent drug whose nonprescription use may have serious general health consequences.
Additional chapters from this book:
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome: A Melatonin Onset Disorder
M.G. Smits and S.R. Pandi-Perumal
Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) is a common but little reported cause of severe insomnia. Characteristic symptoms of this poorly defined circadian rhythm disorder are sleep onset insomnia and tr...
Heterologous Modulation of Androgen Receptor Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Shuttling by Melatonin: A Novel Mode of Regulating Androgen Sensitivity
Nava Zisapel
Melatonin, the hormone secreted nocturnally from the pineal gland, is an androgen protagonist in vivo. Its effects are mostly demonstrable under conditions of low circulating androgen levels (e.g., ...
The Role of Thermoregulation in the Soporific Effects of Melatonin: A New Perspective
Saul S. Gilbert, Cameron J. van den Heuvel, Drew Dawson and Kurt Lushington
Melatonin was first purified nearly fifty years ago and has since been identified as a sleep promoting, thermoregulatory and circadian agent in humans. In this chapter we examine the shifting perspe...
Clinical Utility of the Antioxidant Melatonin in the Newborn
Eloisa Gitto, Russel J. Reiter, Aurelio Amodio and Ignacio Barberi
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered to play a major role in the pathogenesis of a wide range of human disorders. This may be a particularly important pathogenetic mechanism in the newborn n...
The Role of Melatonin in the Development of Scoliosis
Keith M. Bagnall, Talib Rajwani, Jessie Kautz, Marc Moreau, V. James Raso, James Mahood, Ariana Daniel, Christina Demianczuk, Janet Wilson and Xaioping Wang
Scoliosis is an abnormal lateral curvature of the spine often accompanied by vertebral rotation. The most common form of scoliosis is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). It is believed that there...
Extrapineal Melatonin: Location and Role in Pathological Processes
Igor M. Kvetnoy, Natalia S. Sinitskaya and Tatiana V. Kvetnaia
Melatonin (5-methoxy-N-acetyltryptamine) is a major hormone produced by the pi neal gland. Presence of melatonin in the pineal gland was first reported in 1958 by Lerner et al.75 Since this discover...
Melatonin in Winter Depression
A.A. Putilov, G.S. Russkikh and S.R. Pandi-Perumal
In many animals, the day length response is mediated by circadian rhythm of melatonin (MLT). Although humans are not generally considered to be photoperiodic, the exposure to bright light was shown ...
Pineal Gland and Cancer—An Epigenetic Approach to the Control of Malignancy: Evaluation of the Role of Melatonin
Christian Bartsch and Hella Bartsch
The secretion of the pineal hormone melatonin is under control of the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei, the seat of the central circadian clock, and conveys information concerning time of day as ...
Effect of Melatonin on Life Span and Longevity
Vladimir N. Anisimov
During the past decade, a number of reports, sometimes contradictory, appeared concerning the role of the pineal gland in aging.1-4 Melatonin is the main pineal hormone synthesized from tryptophan, ...
Melatonin: A Chronobiotic that Not Only Shifts Rhythms
Dieter Kunz, Richard Mahlberg
Today, a chronobiotic is defined as a substance capable of shifting the phase of the CTS and reentraining circadian rhythms that have been dissociated in the short-term, or desynchronized in the lon...
Mechanisms Underlying Seasonal Regulation of Melatonin Synthesis in Rodents
Valerie Simonneaux, Marie-Laure Garidou, Christophe Ribelayga and Paul Pevet
Synthesis and release of pineal melatonin are increased at night with a season-dependent characteristic pattern. The seasonal alterations in melatonin production constitute a key endocrine message u...
Role of Endogenous and Exogenous Melatonin in Inflamation
Salvatore Cuzzocrea
A vast number of experimental and clinical studies implicates oxygen-derived free radi cals (especially, superoxide and hydroxyl radical) and high energy oxidants (such as peroxynitrite) as mediator...
Sleep and Melatonin in Diurnal Species
Irina V. Zhdanova
Melatonin secretion, occurring at night in both diurnal and nocturnal species, provides an important circadian signal for initiating different types of behavior. In diurnal vertebrates, e.g., humans...
Expression and Signal Transduction Pathways of Melatonin Receptors in Pituitary
Hana Zemkova, Ales Balik and Stanko S. Stojilkovic
Pituitary cells from neonatal animals express functional MT1 subtype of melatonin receptors that signal through pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins. Their activation by melatonin leads to a decreas...
Influence of Melatonin on the Health and Diseases of the Retina
Allan F. Wiechmann
Melatonin released from the pineal gland acts as an endocrine hormone on many distant target cells. Melatonin is also produced in the retina of most vertebrates, including humans, but its most likel...
Melatonin Synchronizes Cell Physiology through Cytoskeletal Rearrangements
G. Benítez-King, G. Ramírez-Rodríguez, D. García, and F. Antón-Tay
Melatonin is a lipophilic hormone that causes a broad spectrum of metabolic and physiological effects in the Central Nervous System and peripheral organs. It has been described that the hormone modu...
The Role of Melatonin in Human Aging and Age-Related Diseases
Michal Karasek
Many theories relating the pineal gland and its secretory product melatonin to aging have been put forward. However, the role of this agent in the aging process is still not clear. Although aging pr...
Diurnal 5-HT Production and Melatonin Formation
Jimo Borjigin and Jie Deng
We have provided evidence that pineal 5-hydroxytryptomine (5-HT or serotonin) production is up regulated at night, and is controlled by beta-adrenergic signaling.1 In this paper, we demonstrate that...
The Fibrillins and Key Molecular Mechanisms that Initiate Disease Pathways
Lynn Y. Sakai
In 1986, fibrillin was first identified as a large noncollagenous glycoprotein associated with a certain type of microfibril ubiquitous in the connective tissue space.1 Because fibrillin monoclonal ...
Melatonin, Light and Migraine
Bruno Claustrat, Christophe Chiquet, Jocelyne Brun and Guy Chazot
Migraine can be viewed as a transient disturbance of the body adaptive response to internal or external environmental changes. Among these factors, light is a major precipitating or aggravating ...
The Effect of Different Wavelengths of Light in Changing the Phase of the Melatonin Circadian Rhythm
Helen R.Wright and Leon C. Lack
Some sleep problems are due to abnormal timing of the circadian system. Circadian rhythm sleep disorders can be treated with appropriately timed bright light which normalizes circadian rhythm ti...
Cardiovascular Effects of Melatonin
Ewa Sewerynek
In the course of aging, the incidence of both acute and chronic heart diseases, systematically increases. Concentrations of some hormones decrease in the course of aging, e.g., melatonin concent...
Oxidative Stress-Mediated Damage During in Vivo Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: Protective Effects of Melatonin
Russel J. Reiter, Rosa M. Sainz, Dun-Xian Tan and Juan C. Mayo
The temporary interruption of blood flow to an organ followed by reperfusion of the tissue with oxygenated blood is highly destructive to the affective cells. While this pro cess, generally refer...
Melatonin and the Thyroid Gland
Andrzej Lewinski
In this review, data from reports on relationships, observed between melatonin – the main pineal hormone - and the thyroid gland, are briefly summarized. The prevailing part of the survey is d...
Melatonin in Protection Against Oxidative Damage Caused by Potential Carcinogens
Malgorzata Karbownik
Oxidative stress participates in the complex process of carcinogenesis. Any carcinogen may initiate the process of cancer development by generating free radicals. Numerous indicators of oxidativ...
Melatonin Use as a Bone-Protecting Substance
Daniel P. Cardinali, Marta G. Ladizesky, Verónica Boggio, Rodolfo A. Cutrera, Ana I. Esquifino and Carlos Mautalen
This chapter discusses early studies on melatonin-bone relationships and recent data that suggest a direct effect of melatonin on bone. Suppression of melatonin secretion lowered serum calcium c...
Use and Discontinuation of Hypnosedative Medications
Mirko Petrovic
Benzodiazepines (BZDs) constitute the most widely used symptomatic treatment of in- somnia and anxiety. Many of these drugs are associated with adverse effects, such as daytime sedation and depen...
