"Melatonin is a neurohormone produced by the pineal gland, and it is believed, has as its main function is to regulate sleep. This hormone is produced from the moment we close our eyes. In the presence of light, however, a message is sent neuroendocrine blocking their formation, therefore, the secretion of this substance is almost exclusively determined by photoresist structures, especially at night.
Melatonin is a substance classified as indoleamine and is a precursor to serotonin, an important neurotransmitter. It is speculated that the fotoreceptivas structures of the retina and pineal gland produces melatonin, changing the route of synthesis of an enzyme via serotonin, serotonin N-acetyltransferase.
Melatonin circulating act in different organ systems and preparing inducing sleep. This production apparatus of melatonin is present in vertebrates in general.
It is believed also that maternal melatonin can help control the infant's sleep cycle. Surveys have shown that babies showed synchrony with the mother. As melatonin is present in breast milk and their concentration is higher at night, babies sleep more with milk offered the night.
To get a restful sleep is necessary that Melatonin is secreted by the pineal properly and it is assumed that other functions are exercised by Melatonin, such as the thermal regulation of the body and changes in sexual behavior.
Production and Action
As with serotonin, melatonin is also produced from an amino acid called Tryptophan usually ingested a balanced diet. Thus the sequence would become the Tryptophan Serotonin and Melatonin on this. That is why the concentration of serotonin is increased in the pineal gland during the day, while there is light, conversely to what occurs with Melatonin.
As we have seen, the production of melatonin is directly linked to the presence of light. When light falls on the retina the optic nerve and other neuronal connections lead to the pineal gland that information by inhibiting the production of melatonin. The increased production of melatonin occurs at night between 2:00 and 3:00 am, a rhythm of normal life, and this increased production produces sleep.
During normal sleep, where much of the energy and organic balance is restored and the adequate production of Melatonin other concomitant phenomena happen and among them we can mention:
- Significant decrease in the production of cortisol and adrenaline.
- Restoration of damaged DNA molecules
- calcium channel blocking
Melatonin has its peak production at 3 years of age, and declines significantly between 60 and 70 years which means that the elderly have a poor quality of sleep. At age 60 have half the amount of melatonin which had 20 and 70 around the levels are very low in many people almost zero.
| CONCENTRATION OF MELATONIN IN BLOOD IN ng / ml |
| Age | Daytime | Nightly |
| PRE-PUBERTY | 21.8 | 97.2 |
| ADULT | 18.2 | 77.2 |
| SENILE | 16.2 | 36.2 |
| Melatonin concentration in the blood at different stages of life in Chinese men. Observe significant differences between diurnal and nocturnal production and production variations between night the group of pre-puberty phase Adult and Senile. |
Considering the effect of melatonin cause drowsiness and feeling of relaxation when released after 1994, it became the most suitable among people who travel internationally, in order to set the time with the biological zones. Although induce sleep Melatonin is not addictive (Reference).
Melatonin can also be secreted, causing sleepiness and relaxation, when it makes a meal rich in carbohydrates, when taking a long hot bath or when there is sun exposure.
In addition to inducing sleep, the melatonin is a powerful antioxidant that, like other antioxidants can slow down aging process. Melatonin as an antioxidant possibly reduces the level of the catabolic hormone cortisol. There is also evidence that melatonin stimulates the production of growth hormone.
The Pineal Gland
In animals the pineal gland determines much of the seasonal behavior, according to the seasons. Thanks to this activity pineal they migrate in winter, overwinter, mating, finally keeps typical behaviors that are repeated every year.
Melatonin is the most important hormone produced by our pineal gland, a tiny gland in the brain, located roughly behind the eye region, responsible for controlling the pace of harmony between day and night, light and dark.
In children the pineal gland is very small and its secretion of melatonin is not regulated. Perhaps this is one explanation about sleep unpredictable children. The best production of melatonin occurs in adolescence and early adulthood, beginning to decline after thirty or forty years and at the age of seventy or eighty years hormone secretion is severely diminished.
Recent studies have shown that melatonin levels are higher in women, making it more sensitive to seasonal changes of light than men. In autumn and winter, the woman is more exposed to seasonal psychic disturbances, weight gain, than in summer. But the hormonal supplement both the man and the woman is equal: decreases and becomes similar losses there for the same age.
The operation of the pineal gland is important that the body remains adapted to the conditions required, such as activity during the day and during the night rest.
Consequences of the Decline in Melatonin
A person under stress usually produces more adrenaline and cortisol. For each molecule of adrenaline formed four molecules of free radicals will be produced and thus the likelihood of injury to the cells increases. In addition to epinephrine and cortisol induce the formation of an enzyme "Tryptophan pirolase the" capable of destroying the Tryptophan before it reaches the pineal gland. With this, nor Melatonin is manufactured nor serotonin (which can lead to binge carbohydrate, with a tendency to weight gain and depression).
Melatonin is a substance anti free radical therefore antioxidant. She is able to cross the blood brain barrier (membrane that protects the brain), thus able to perform duties at the neuronal level. This action is very important in protecting neurons against damage from free radicals. Our brain tissue is much more susceptible to the action of free radicals than any other part of our body and to the extent that the levels of melatonin are falling may be a concomitant decline in brain function.
Sleep disorders may also be a decrease in the effects of melatonin. With aging, the pineal gland work less and there would be a decrease in the production of melatonin. This ends up causing some elderly patients complain of sleep quality or insomnia, however, it may be that sleep easily when they should not, during the day, watching television, etc..
Insofar as we age our immune system loses its performance vigilant, lowering defenses and allowing our body becomes more vulnerable to constant aggression. Current research has suggested to be an important relationship between some hormones (estrogen, testosterone, DHEA, Melatonin, Pregnenolone and Growth Hormone) and the Immune System. At this point Melatonin has been highlighted as an agent for maintaining harmony and functioning of the immune system.
She seems to be able to increase the mobility and activity of immune cells, strengthen the formation of antibodies, facilitate defense against viruses, moderate overproduction of corticosteroids generated by prolonged or repetitive stress and balance thyroid function, which acts directly on the production of very important defense cells, T lymphocytes "
A little more about - MELATONIN -
(Text technical but easy to understand):
"The behavioral changes that occur according to the 24-hour rhythm in living beings are one of the most prominent features of life on planet Earth. The nervous system, both in simple organisms as complex, evolved over the millennia to meet the demands of time-dependent variations related to the light-dark cycle.
The pineal gland and melatonin are of fundamental importance in the mechanisms of adaptation of the organism to the environment, whose failure may be related to the genesis of many pathological processes, including neurological diseases. Melatonin acts as a transducer neuro endocrine transforming external information related to the night-day cycle in biochemical signals that modulate the organization time-dependent functions of autonomic, endocrine and behavioral neuro.
Melatonin (N-acetyl-methoxytryptamine) was characterized in 1958, is an indoleamine known today as the major secretory product of the pineal gland is an organ that midline of the brain, up to 8 mm, located below the corpus callosum splenius .
The regulation of secretion of melatonin in the pineal gland is singular, unlike other glands, it is not influenced by other hormones secreted by other cells or glands, but the great regulator of melatonin production is the light-dark cycle, day-night environmental , one end of the body visual system.
Melatonin is produced only during the night, light is paradoxical effect on production, stimulates when received inhibits day and night.
the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus (which is the clock) receives the luminous information via the retinohypothalamic tract axons hypothalamic-norepinephrine and through the via-adrenergic receptors stimulates melatonin production in pinealócito. secretion of melatonin declines with age, so a series of biological events associated with aging may be related to the decrease. Other important aspects of melatonin include its effect oncostático, its interaction with the immune system, gonadotropin, its powerful antioxidant effects, modulation system dopaminérico, seroto-ninérgico, its potentiation of opioid analgesia and GABA neurotransmission, its implication in production of nitric oxide and neurovascular control.
Several diseases are biological rhythm, also called dissincronoses.
might be due to external environmental or due to the lifestyle of the individual, as the syndrome in shift workers changed in jet lag (disorder secondary to dislocation fast zone) and poor adaptation to the change of summer / winter. Syndrome and delayed sleep phase advance of the rhythm disturbances in blind, and Smith-Magenis syndrome have endogenous origin. Other diseases such as seasonal depression, bipolar depression, multiple sclerosis, premenstrual syndrome, migraine and cluster headache have marked chronotropic biological component with a sharp variation of its signs and symptoms according to circadian or circannual.
Several neurological diseases, and of course sleep disorders, are influenced clinical relevance of biological rhythms, such as headache, epilepsy, dementia, neurovascular diseases, extrapyramidal, neuromuscular, demyelinating disorders and malignancies.
Some headaches have clear circadian rhythmicity as hypnic headache and cluster headache; others with circannual variation, cluster headache and migraine cyclical, and last menstrual migraine with monthly pace.
Many biological effects of melatonin are characterized as a potential candidate in the pathophysiology and treatment of migraine. Their effects are to potentiate GABA inhibit glutamate, nitric oxide sweep modulate the action of serotonin, dopamine, and opioid analgesia act as anti-inflammatory, besides having the molecular structure to indomethacin molecule of much interest in the area of headache.
We recently showed that melatonin 3 mg was effective in preventing migraine. In migraine, decreased levels of melatonin and alteration in curve secretion were detected. Clinically, seizures may occur at night, sleep rhythm changes trigger migraine attacks, migraine patients sleep less, have higher latency and night awakenings.
In the study we performed was observed in patients with chronic migraine changing levels of melatonin with advancing their peak levels lower in insomnia, pointing to a biological dysfunction chrono. Another study in 200 patients with episodic migraine and chronic revealed that 93 patients (46.5%) reported seizures after changing your sleep schedule, 28 patients (14%) reported shift work changed, with 86% worsening headache. Eighty-six patients (43%) reported frequent travel across time zones, 79% with worsening headache.
Headache after shift work exchanged correlated with fatigue and memory complaints. Headache after traveling across time zones correlated with complaints of concentration and memory.
A phase of sleep (22:22 + 01:17 h) was significantly delayed (22:46 h 01:20 h +), 0.001, and 108 patients (54%) changed to sleep phase ranging from 05:00 -02:30 ha +. Most patients (75.69%) was delayed, while 33 (31%) advanced sleep phase. Delays or advancements greater than 2:00 accounted for 12.5% of patients.
In cluster headache, there is the importance of melatonin rhythm and well established. A double blind placebo controlled shows that melatonin is superior to placebo in episodic cluster headache and chronic.
Melatonin levels are decreased in patients with cluster headache. The relationship between cluster headache and temperature increase is probably mediated by changes in the secretion of melatonin.
In epilepsy, circadian variation is also important. In general, generalized seizures tend to occur more during the day, while secondarily generalized seizures occur more during sleep. The dependence of seizures in relation to time decreases with age, with decreased secretion of melatonin.
Melatonin shows antiepileptic action in experimental models and in humans with probable GABAergic mechanism. In patients with dementia, the onset of agitation at the end of the day, the phenomenon of "sundowning", has been successfully treated with melatonin. Abnormal levels of melatonin may appear already in the preclinical phase. In experimental models of Alzheimer's, there was an increase in survival and decrease in pathological lesions.
Melatonin has potent free radical scavenger action, having importance as neuro protective substance. In experimental models of ischemia, decreased the affected area with its administration, as well as providing reduced edema, improved recovery of neurological deficits. It also occurs in stroke seasonal variation and circadian events.
Melatonin modulates the action of dopamine, inhibiting its release, thus potentially interfere with movement disorders. There are studies showing changes in the levels of melatonin in Parkinson's disease, tardive dyskinesia benefit, due to its neuro-protective action can act as an adjuvant in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. REM behavior disorders in Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia had improved with the use of melatonin.
The interaction of neurological diseases with biological effects of melatonin consists of an avenue of scientific research, with a potential prospect of better understanding the pathophysiology and therapeutic management of a more appropriate "
ANOTHER INTERESTING LINK
NOW A VIDEO LECTURE ON GLAND PINEAL
