Dominguez-Rodriguez Alberto, Abreu-Gonzalez Pedro, Garcia Martin, Ferrer Julio, de la Rosa Alejandro, Vargas Manuel, Reiter Russel J
Department of Cardiology, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Spain.
Cytokine. 2004 Apr 21;26(2):89-93. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2004.01.003.
Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease that, from its origin to its ultimate complications, involves inflammatory cells, inflammatory proteins, and inflammatory responses from vascular cells. It has been demonstrated that cytokine activities are under neuroendocrine control, in part exerted by the pineal gland through the circadian secretion of its main product melatonin. Melatonin is mainly released during the night, but the precise relationship between melatonin and the light/dark rhythm of interleukin-6 in patients with acute myocardial infarction is still unclear.
The study included 60 patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction and 60 healthy volunteers whose venous blood samples were collected at 09:00 h (light period) and 02:00 h (dark period). Our results demonstrate that interleukin-6 concentrations presented a light/dark pattern with mean serum concentrations being higher in the acute myocardial infarction group than in the control group (101.26 +/- 13.43 and 52.67 +/- 7.73 pg/ml at 02:00 h, 41.93 +/- 5.90 and 22.98 +/- 4.49 pg/ml at 09:00 h, respectively, p < 0.05). Differences in the day/night changes in melatonin levels in control subjects (48.19 +/- 7.82 at 02:00 h, 14.51+/- 2.36 at 09:00 h, pg/ml) and acute myocardial infarction patients (25.97 +/- 3.90 at 02:00 h, 12.29 +/- 4.01 at 09:00 h, pg/ml) (p < 0.05) were a result of a reduced nocturnal elevation of melatonin in the acute myocardial infarction group.
The current findings suggest that the circadian secretion of melatonin may be responsible at least in part for light/dark variations of endogenous interleukin-6 production in patients with acute myocardial infarction. In this study, the melatonin seems to have an anti-inflammatory effect.
动脉粥样硬化是一种慢性疾病，从其起源到最终并发症，涉及炎症细胞、炎症蛋白以及血管细胞的炎症反应。已证实细胞因子活性受神经内分泌控制，部分是由松果体通过其主要产物褪黑素的昼夜分泌来发挥作用。褪黑素主要在夜间释放，但急性心肌梗死患者中褪黑素与白细胞介素 -6 的昼夜节律之间的确切关系仍不清楚。
该研究纳入了 60 例诊断为急性心肌梗死的患者和 60 名健康志愿者，在上午 9 点（光照期）和凌晨 2 点（黑暗期）采集他们的静脉血样本。我们的结果表明，白细胞介素 -6 浓度呈现出昼夜模式，急性心肌梗死组的平均血清浓度高于对照组（凌晨 2 点时分别为 101.26±13.43 和 52.67±7.73 pg/ml，上午 9 点时分别为 41.93±5.90 和 22.98±4.49 pg/ml，p<0.05）。对照组（凌晨 2 点时为 48.19±7.82，上午 9 点时为 14.51±2.36，pg/ml）和急性心肌梗死患者（凌晨 2 点时为 25.97±3.90，上午 9 点时为 12.29±4.01，pg/ml）褪黑素水平的昼夜变化差异（p<0.05）是由于急性心肌梗死组夜间褪黑素升高幅度降低所致。
目前的研究结果表明，褪黑素的昼夜分泌可能至少部分负责急性心肌梗死患者内源性白细胞介素 -6 产生的昼夜变化。在本研究中，褪黑素似乎具有抗炎作用。
