Influence of melatonin on the process of protein and/or peptide secretion in the pineal gland of the rat and hamster. An in vitro study.

The hypothesis that melatonin (aMT) is implicated in the regulation of the secretory process involved in the synthesis and release of protein/peptide "hormones" of the pineal organ has been tested in the present study by the use of an in vitro system in two mammalian species. In these species the secretory process studied is characterized by either large (hamster) or very small (rat) numbers of granular vesicles. In both species, aMT clearly participates in the regulation of the process of protein/peptide secretion. However, the effect of aMT varies with the presence of noradrenaline (NA) in the medium and is not identical in both species. Melatonin, in the absence of NA, induces the formation of granular vesicles by the Golgi apparatus in pinealocytes of the rat but not in those of the hamster, while in the presence of NA, aMT provokes a decrease in the number of these vesicles in both species. The present experiments show (i) that the pineal is one of the target organs for aMT, and (ii) that aMT is implicated in the control of protein/peptide secretion in the pineal organ.