General Description

• Melatonine is a hormone produced by the pineal gland that shows several biological activities, including the somnolence, sleep-wake cycle, circadian rhythm, stress response, aging, and immunity activities

• It shows antioxidant, autocoid, paracoid, hormonal, anti- inflammatory and anti-apoptotic activities

Applications

• Melatonin shows neurohormonal activity and can upregulate antioxidant enzymes and inhibit rat NOS1

• Melatonin has been reported to be an activator of MEL-1A-R and MEL-1B-R

• The production and secretion of melatonine are dependent on beta-adrenergic receptor function

• During melatonine synthesis, the essential amino acid L-tryptophan is used as a precursor

• This compound inhibits apoptosis in immune cells and neurons, and enhances apoptotic cell death of cancer cells

• It can inhibit proliferation and metastasis of breast cancer cells by modulating Rho-associated kinase protein-1 expression