Melatonin and Melatonergic Drugs in Clinical Practice

Melatonin is a ubiquitous molecule present in almost every live being from bacteria to humans. In vertebrates, besides being produced in peripheral tissues and acting as an autocrine and paracrine signal, melatonin is centrally synthetized by a neuroendocrine organ, the pineal gland. Independently of the considered species, pineal hormone melatonin is always produced during the night and its production and secretory episode duration are directly dependent on the length of the night. As its production is tightly linked to the light/dark cycle, melatonin main hormonal systemic integrative action is to coordinate behavioral and physiological adaptations to the environmental geophysical day and season. The circadian signal is dependent on its daily production regularity, on the contrast between day and night concentrations, and on specially developed ways of action. During its daily secretory episode, melatonin coordinates the night adaptive physiology through immediate effects and primes the day adaptive responses through prospective effects that will only appear at daytime, when melatonin is absent. Similarly, the annual history of the daily melatonin secretory episode duration primes the central nervous/endocrine system to the seasons to come. Remarkably, maternal melatonin programs the fetuses' behavior and physiology to cope with the environmental light/dark cycle and season after birth. These unique ways of action turn melatonin into a biological time-domain-acting molecule. The present review focuses on the above considerations, proposes a putative classification of clinical melatonin dysfunctions, and discusses general guidelines to the therapeutic use of melatonin.

show abstract

Melatonin as a Hormone: New Physiological and Clinical Insights

Cipolla‐Neto

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The role of melatonin in mood disorders

Berardis¹,

Orsolini²,

Serroni³

et al. 2015

CPT

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) has been discovered as a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, even though it is also synthetized in various other organs, tissues, and cells. The circadian rhythm of melatonin is often used as an indicator phase position since it is a well-defined, high-amplitude rhythm controlled by the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei. Melatonin production is controlled by this endogenous circadian timing system. It peaks during the night and is suppressed by daylight. Mood spectrum disorders, including bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), have been observed to be accompanied by circadian dysregulation as well as dysregulation in melatonin secretion. Simultaneously, it has also been documented that disruptions in circadian rhythms, including the sleep/wake cycle, though environmental means can produce mood-related problems in vulnerable individuals. These findings suggested that altered circadian rhythms might be biological markers of these disorders. As melatonin is considered a chronobiotic factor, ie, able to entrain the circadian rhythms of several biological functions (eg, activity/rest, sleep/wake, body temperature, endocrine rhythms, etc), its use may provide a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of affective disorders. However, the available evidence is controversial. This review summarizes the data published so far about reliable evidence on the role of melatonin in affective disorders.

show abstract

Melatonin and its Relationships with Diabetes and Obesity: A Literature Review

Ramirez

Filho²,

Sá³

2021

CDR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Significance: Obesity is a multifactorial disease with many risks to public health, affecting 39.6% of American adults and 18.5% of young people. Brazil ranks fifth in the world ranking, with about 18 million obese people. It is estimated that 415 million people live with diabetes in the world, which is roughly 1 in 11 of the world's adult population. This is expected to rise to 642 million people living with diabetes worldwide by 2040. In this scenario, Melatonin has evidenced an important function in the regulation of energy metabolism. Objective: to carry out a broad narrative review of the literature on the main aspects of the influence of melatonin on Diabetes Mellitus and obesity. Methods: Article reviews, systematic reviews, prospective studies, retrospective studies, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in humans recently published were selected and analyzed. A total of 368 articles were collated and submitted to the eligibility analysis. Subsequently, 215 studies were selected to compose the textual part of the manuscript and 153 to compose the Narrative Review. Results and final considerations: Studies suggest a possible role of melatonin in metabolic diseases such as obesity, T2DM and metabolic syndrome. Intervention studies using this hormone in metabolic diseases are still unclear regarding a possible benefit of it. There is so far no consensus about a possible role of melatonin as an adjuvant in the treatment of metabolic diseases. More studies are necessary to define possible risks and benefits of melatonin as a therapeutic agent.

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

customersupport@researchsolutions.com

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

Melatonin and Melatonergic Drugs in Clinical Practice

Cited by 5 publications

References 520 publications

Melatonin as a Hormone: New Physiological and Clinical Insights

Melatonin as a Hormone: New Physiological and Clinical Insights

The role of melatonin in mood disorders

Melatonin and its Relationships with Diabetes and Obesity: A Literature Review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About