D P Cardinali, L I Brusco, R A Cutrera, P Castrillón, A I Esquifino
{"title":"Melatonin as a time-meaningful signal in circadian organization of immune response.","authors":"D P Cardinali, L I Brusco, R A Cutrera, P Castrillón, A I Esquifino","doi":"10.1159/000014567","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Melatonin is synthesized and secreted during the dark period of the light/dark cycle. The rhythmic nocturnal melatonin secretion is directly generated by the circadian clock, located within the suprachiasmatic nuclei in mammals and is entrained to a 24-hour period by the light-dark cycle. The periodic secretion of melatonin may be used as a circadian mediator to any system that can 'read' the message. Melatonin seems to act as an arm of the circadian clock, giving a time-related signal to a number of body functions; one of these, the circadian organization of the defense of the organism, is discussed in some detail as an example.</p>","PeriodicalId":79565,"journal":{"name":"Biological signals and receptors","volume":"8 1-2","pages":"41-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1999-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1159/000014567","citationCount":"30","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biological signals and receptors","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000014567","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 30
Abstract
Melatonin is synthesized and secreted during the dark period of the light/dark cycle. The rhythmic nocturnal melatonin secretion is directly generated by the circadian clock, located within the suprachiasmatic nuclei in mammals and is entrained to a 24-hour period by the light-dark cycle. The periodic secretion of melatonin may be used as a circadian mediator to any system that can 'read' the message. Melatonin seems to act as an arm of the circadian clock, giving a time-related signal to a number of body functions; one of these, the circadian organization of the defense of the organism, is discussed in some detail as an example.