Neurodegeneration

Neurodegeneration

Melatonin also plays a key role in neuroprotection, because disruptions of the day/night cycle often have consequences for mental health. This has been proven on multiple occasions by studies. What’s more, the severity and course of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s can be improved by melatonin.

Depression

Studies have observed that persons suffering from depression exhibit changes in their melatonin secretion and thus also their sleep/wake cycle. How we sleep is therefore also considered to be an important biomarker in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of depression. By normalising these melatonin disorders, behaviour changes can be improved and depression mitigated.

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

Low melatonin values, which are exhibited through daytime tiredness and nocturnal activity, are demonstrable in many Alzheimer’s and also Parkinson’s patients. Studies have been able to demonstrate that melatonin supplements administered for both of these diseases resulted in a significant improvement in symptoms, especially in the early stages of the disease.

Melatonin has a preventative effect

Melatonin has also been used to reduce oxidative stress in the brain and to reduce – or sometimes even prevent – the loss of nerve cells and damage to the brain. Melatonin is therefore primarily a preventative measure against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Studies are still under way to determine if it can be used in a curative capacity.

2025-01-17

A variety of organisms including mammals have evolved a 24h, self-sustained timekeeping machinery known as the circadian clock (biological clock), which enables to anticipate, respond, and adapt to environmental influences such as the daily light and dark cycles. Proper functioning of the clock plays a pivotal role in the temporal regulation of a wide range

2025-01-17

In type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its related disorders like obesity, the abnormal protein processing, oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines will drive the activation of inflammatory pathways, leading to low-grade chronic inflammation and insulin resistance (IR) in the periphery and impaired neuronal insulin signaling in the brain. Studies have shown that such inflammation and

2025-01-17

The circadian system is an intricate molecular network of coordinating circadian clocks that organize the internal synchrony of the organism in response to the environment. These rhythms are maintained by genetically programmed positive and negative auto-regulated transcriptional and translational feedback loops that sustain 24-hour oscillations in mRNA and protein components of the endogenous circadian clock.

2025-01-17

Disruptions of circadian rhythms and sleep cycles are common among neurodegenerative diseases and can occur at multiple levels. Accumulating evidence reveals a bidirectional relationship between disruptions of circadian rhythms and sleep cycles and neurodegenerative diseases. Circadian disruption and sleep disorders aggravate neurodegeneration and neurodegenerative diseases can in turn disrupt circadian rhythms and sleep. Importantly, circadian

2025-01-17

The brain lacks a classic lymphatic drainage system. How it is cleansed of damaged proteins, cellular debris, and molecular by-products has remained a mystery for decades. Recent discoveries have identified a hybrid system that includes cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-filled perivascular spaces and classic lymph vessels in the dural covering of the brain and spinal cord that

2025-01-09

Circadian rhythms are involved in the regulation of many aspects of the body, including cell function, physical activity and disease. Circadian disturbance often predates the typical symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases and is not only a non-motor symptom, but also one of the causes of their occurrence and progression. Glial cells possess circadian clocks that regulate

2025-01-09

Nutraceuticals and melatonergic pathway There is a growing dissatisfaction at the lack of progress in treating neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. No current pharmaceuticals have any significant impact on the pathophysiological changes occurring in such neurodegenerative conditions. More promising has been the utilization of nutraceuticals, a number of

2022-07-18

Alterations in tryptophan and serotonin have been implicated in various mental disorders; but studies are limited on child neurodevelopmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

2022-07-12

An important pathophysiological component of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is circadian rhythm disorder, closely related to a decrease in circulated melatonin (MLT) level. It has been reported recently that retinoic acid-associated orphan nuclear receptor (RORα), for the potentiallyendogenous ligand MLT, plays an important role in various diseases.

2022-05-04

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by a complex and multifaceted neurobehavioral syndrome. In the last decades, several studies highlighted an increased prevalence of sleep problems in ASD, which would be associated with autonomic system and circadian rhythm disruption.

2022-05-03

Intracellular accumulation of the microtubule-associated protein tau and its hyperphosphorylated forms is a key neuropathological feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Melatonin has been shown to prevent tau hyperphosphorylation in cellular and animal models. However, the molecular mechanisms by which melatonin attenuates tau hyperphosphorylation and tau-related pathologies are not fully understood.

2022-03-19

Microglia, the sentinels of the central nervous system, are responsible for the surveillance and the innate defense against pathogen or danger/damage-associated molecular patterns. The response is fine-tuned to restrain pro-inflammatory responses, preserving neighboring cells. At the injured area, microglia temporarily shift to a pro-inflammatory phenotype (M1), followed by anti-inflammatory (M2) phenotypes. The duration and magnitude of the pro-inflammatory phase are finely regulated to avoid unnecessary loss of brain tissue.

2020-07-19

This study aimed to determine the effect of exogenous melatonin on the number of sedative drugs and the duration of mechanical ventilation in traumatic intracranial hemorrhage patients in ICU.

2020-07-19

Secreted by the pineal gland to regulate the circadian rhythm, melatonin is a powerful antioxidant that has been used to combat oxidative stress in the central nervous system.

2020-05-24

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a degenerative disease that is characterized by massive neuron devastations in the hippocampus and cortex. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the transitory stage between normality and AD dementia. This study aimed to investigate the melatonin induced effects on the lamina cribrosa thickness (LCT) of patients with MCI.

2020-05-15

This study evaluated the effects of melatonin supplementation on parameters of mental health, glycemic control, markers of cardiometabolic risk, and oxidative stress in diabetic hemodialysis (HD) patients.

2020-04-21

Growing evidence shows a link between mood and chronotype. The majority of studies measure chronotype as a preference for morning/evening activities, rather than actual sleep behaviour (i.e. midsleep) or biological markers of sleep timing (e.g. dim light melatonin onset).

2020-04-16

This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial tested the hypothesis that 20mg of melatonin before and during the first cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer (ACBC) reduced the side effects associated with cognitive impairment.

2020-03-19

The neuromodulator melatonin synchronizes circadian rhythms and related physiological functions via actions at two G protein-coupled receptors: MT1 and MT2.

2020-02-19

The bidirectional interaction between melatonin and the immune system has largely gone unexplored in a clinical context and especially in a psychiatric population. This study explored the association between melatonin during the day and inflammatory cytokines in young adult patients seeking psychiatric care.

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