Abstract
The precise etiology of the restless legs syndrome (RLS) is unknown. Sensory and motor symptoms of RLS worsen during evening/night, coincident with the physiological peak of pineal melatonin excretion. Decreased melatonin levels have been reported in insomnia, which is an associated feature of RLS. Melatonin substitution improved insomnia. A potential association between the idiopathic RLS (iRLS) and alterations in melatonin excretion was therefore explored. Daytime (7:00-22:00 hr) and night-time (22:00-7:00 hr) urinary excretion of 6-OH-melatonin-sulfate (aMLTs) was measured in 15 patients with iRLS and 11 controls by a radioimmunoassay. There was no significant difference between daytime and night-time urinary aMLTs excretion in iRLS as compared with controls (daytime: 6.14 +/- 5.20 ng versus 5.02 +/- 5.11 ng, NS; night-time: 21.07 +/- 17.05 ng versus 22.92 +/- 16.52 ng, NS). Our data do not provide evidence for a decrease of cumulative melatonin production in iRLS. Insomnia in RLS does not seem to be correlated with a deficit of melatonin.
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