PMID: 9536467Apr 16, 1998Paper

Melatonin and its physiological and therapeutic properties

Pharmacy World & Science : PWS
J Z Nowak, J Zawilska

Abstract

Melatonin is a hormone produced mainly by the pineal gland in most vertebrate species, including humans. Recent metabolic, receptor and functional studies created a picture of the melatoninergic system(s) in living organisms, its organization, physiology and a role in some pathologic conditions. The melatonin-generating system is characterized by three basic features: (1) photosensitivity, (2) diurnal (or circadian) rhythmicity (with highest levels of melatonin production occurring at night in darkness), and (3) age-related decline in its activity. Cyclic nocturnal increases of melatonin levels are proportional to the length of nights (or dark periods of an imposed light-dark cycle); the hormone thus conveys a photoperiodic message, and functions in an organism as an internal biochemical clock and calendar. Biological actions of melatonin are mediated via specific melatonin receptors, whose distribution in the body is uneven, yet with decisively highest density in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus, pars tuberalis of the pituitary, and the retina (particularly in birds and lower vertebrates). Such a distribution of melatonin receptors suggests that the principal physiological role of the hormone is related to both c...Continue Reading

Citations

Jul 17, 2015·Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity·Mika ReinisaloReijo O Karjalainen
Oct 3, 2003·Journal of Pineal Research·Pasquale AgozzinoLuisa Tesoriere
Dec 30, 2016·Medicine·Jin-Ah LeeUNKNOWN Epidemiologic Survey Committee of the Korean Ophthalmological Society
Feb 10, 2004·The Journal of Urology·M J DrakeJ G Noble
Apr 19, 2007·Journal of Pineal Research·Konstantin ChegaevAlberto Gasco
Nov 4, 2011·Menopause : the Journal of the North American Menopause Society·Rui Ferreira AfonsoJosé Roberto Leite
Nov 16, 2010·Journal of Pineal Research·Agorastos Agorastos, Christian G Huber
Dec 20, 2013·Journal of Neural Transmission·Tal Ashkenazy-FrolingerNoga Kronfeld-Schor
Apr 26, 2002·Anesthesia and Analgesia·Xiangyang GuoAlain Vuylsteke
Dec 28, 2006·Human Fertility : Journal of the British Fertility Society·Simon WoodIwan Lewis-Jones
May 22, 2010·The Journal of Urology·Yosuke MatsutaOsamu Yokoyama
Jun 8, 2011·Journal of Pineal Research·Rosalia CrupiSalvatore Cuzzocrea
Feb 13, 2020·Frontiers in Psychiatry·Agorastos AgorastosPanagiota Pervanidou
Mar 15, 2012·The Korean Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology : Official Journal of the Korean Physiological Society and the Korean Society of Pharmacology·June Hyun HanKyung Do Kim
Mar 3, 2009·European Journal of Pharmacology·Bernardo C DetanicoElaine Elisabetsky
Aug 22, 2021·Pharmacological Research : the Official Journal of the Italian Pharmacological Society·Arezoo Fathalizadeh AlamdariSarvin Sanaie

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