Abstract
Obesity and its complications have become a prominent global public health problem that severely threatens human health. Melatonin, originally known as an effective antioxidant, is an endogenous hormone found throughout the body that serves various physiological functions. In recent decades, increasing attention has been paid to its unique function in regulating energy metabolism, especially in glucose and lipid metabolism. Accumulating evidence has established the relationship between melatonin and obesity; nevertheless, not all preclinical and clinical evidence indicates the anti-obesity effect of melatonin, which makes it remain to conclude the clinical effect of melatonin in the fight against obesity. In this review, we have summarized the current knowledge of melatonin in regulating obesity-related symptoms, with emphasis on its underlying mechanisms. The role of melatonin in regulating the lipid profile, adipose tissue, oxidative stress, and inflammation, as well as the interactions of melatonin with the circadian rhythm, gut microbiota, sleep disorder, as well as the α7nAChR, the opioidergic system, and exosomes, make melatonin a promising agent to open new avenues in the intervention of obesity.
Highlights
We mainly focus on the mechanisms of melatonin in obesity, especially the potential pathways that have not been summarized yet, in a more systematic and in-depth manner, providing more insight for obesity study and prevention
Melatonin exerts beneficial effects on regulating lipid profile, insulin resistance, and maternal obesity, which may be owing to its role in regulating the adipose tissue, circadian rhythm, gut microbiota, sleep disorders, oxidative stress (OS), inflammation, and others, such as α7nAChR
Not all preclinical data show evidence of melatonin in weight loss, and clinical data is insufficient, which makes the role of melatonin in obesity a controversial issue
Summary
There is no doubt that obesity has become a challenging global public health crisis. Previously, it was determined that people with overweight or obesity were over 2 billion, which comprised one-third of the worldwide population [1]. Melatonin is understood as a pleiotropic hormone that plays outstanding effects on the circadian rhythm [6], immune system [7], cancers [8], and even energy metabolism [9]. Given that melatonin is a potential regulator of metabolism, the relationship between melatonin and obesity has been discussed in some existing literature reviews [10,11,12], involving the role of melatonin in regulating obesity and the recognized mechanisms, such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. We mainly focus on the mechanisms of melatonin in obesity, especially the potential pathways that have not been summarized yet, in a more systematic and in-depth manner, providing more insight for obesity study and prevention.
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