Melatonin and the circadian system: Keys for health with a focus on sleep

Abstract

Melatonin (MLT), secreted during the night by the pineal gland, is an efferent hormonal signal of the master circadian clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Consequently, it is a reliable phase marker of the SCN clock. If one defines as "chronobiotic," a drug able to influence the phase and/or the period of the circadian clock, MLT is a very potent one. The most convincing data obtained so far come from studies on totally blind individuals. Exogenous MLT administered daily entrains the sleep-wake cycle of these individuals to a 24-h cycle. MLT, however, is not essential to sleep. In nocturnally, active mammals, MLT is released during the night concomitantly with the daily period of wakefulness. Therefore, MLT cannot be simply considered as a sleep hormone, but rather as a signal of darkness. Its role in the circadian system is to reinforce nighttime physiology, including timing of the sleep-wake cycle and other circadian rhythms. MLT exerts its effects on the sleep cycle especially by a direct action on the master circadian clock. The sleep-wake cycle is depending not only on the circadian clock but also on an orchestrated network of different centers in the brain. Thus, the control of sleep-wake rhythm might be explained by a parallel and concomitant action of MLT on the master clock (chronobiotic effect) and on sleep-related structures within the brain. MLT acts through two high-affinity membrane receptors (MT1 and MT2) with striking differences in their distribution pattern. MLT is a powerful synchronizer of human circadian rhythms, thus justifying the use of MLT and MLT agonists in clinical medicine as pharmacological tools to manipulate the sleep-wake cycle, and to treat sleep disorders and other circadian disorders. Available MLT analogs/drugs are all nonspecific MT1/MT2 agonists. The development of new ligands which are highly selectivity for each subtype is clearly a new challenge for the field and will be at the root of new therapeutic agents for curing specific pathologies, including sleep disorders.

Keywords: Circadian clock; Circadian disorders; Melatonin; Sleep; Sleep–wake cycle.