Abstract
The pleiotropy of melatonin is a reason for using this hormone or synthetic melatonergic agonists for testing their suitability in various diseases and disorders. However, it is important to remain aware that many preclinical findings cannot be translated to humans, because of the different relationship between melatonin and sleep or activity in diurnally compared to nocturnally active mammals...
Highlights
Melatonin is a highly pleiotropic regulator that exerts effects in the majority of mammalian cells
Antiiflammatory actions were especially reported for various tissues of senescent rodents, including down regulation of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNFα as well as up regulation of IL-10. These changes were associated with reduced expression of iNOS and up regulation of the antiaging factor sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). These findings indicate a role of melatonin in counteracting inflammaging [12,13,14]
Melatonin was shown to decrease glucose tolerance, and this was aggravated in carriers of a prodiabetic risk allele of the gene of the melatonin receptor MT2 (G allele of MTNR1B carrying the SNP rs10830963) [22], which is notably over expressed in beta cells [20,21]
Summary
Melatonin is a highly pleiotropic regulator that exerts effects in the majority of mammalian cells. It is important to remain aware that many preclinical findings cannot be translated to humans, because of the different relationship between melatonin and sleep or activity in diurnally compared to nocturnally active mammals. A particular problem has emerged by findings on prodiabetic actions of melatonin in humans, which strongly contrast with antidiabetic results obtained in rats.
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