Delagrange P, Guardiola-Lemaitre B
Institut de Recherches Internationales Servier, Courbevioe, France.
Clin Neuropharmacol. 1997 Dec;20(6):482-510. doi: 10.1097/00002826-199712000-00002.
Melatonin is a neurohormone produced during the night by the pineal gland. Its secretion is regulated by circadian and seasonal variations in daylength, transmitted via visual projections to the suprachiasmatic nucleus which functions as a circadian clock in mammals. Melatonin has been proposed to act as an internal synchronizer of circadian rhythms generated at different levels of the organism. The chronobiotic effects of melatonin in humans have been mainly studied in circadian rhythm sleep disorders related to jet lag, shift work, blindness or aging. Alterations of the melatonin profiles have also been reported in other biological rhythm disorders.
褪黑素是一种夜间由松果体分泌的神经激素。其分泌受昼夜节律和日照时长季节性变化的调节，通过视觉投射传递至视交叉上核，该核在哺乳动物中起昼夜节律钟的作用。褪黑素被认为可作为机体不同水平产生的昼夜节律的内部同步器。褪黑素对人类的生物钟调节作用主要在与时差反应、轮班工作、失明或衰老相关的昼夜节律性睡眠障碍中进行了研究。在其他生物节律紊乱中也报道了褪黑素水平的改变。
