Genetic control of melatonin synthesis in the pineal gland of the mouse

Pineal melatonin may play an important role in regulation of vertebrate circadian rhythms and in human affective disorders. In some mammals, such as hamsters and sheep, melatonin is involved in photoperiodic time measurement and in control of reproduction. Although wild mice (Mus domesticus) and some wild-derived inbred strains of mice have melatonin in their pineal glands, several inbred strains of laboratory mice (for example, C57BL/6J) were found not to have detectable melatonin in their pineal glands. Genetic analysis suggests that melatonin deficiency in C57BL/6J mice results from mutations in two independently segregating, autosomal recessive genes. Synthesis of melatonin from serotonin in the pineal gland requires the enzymes N-acetyltransferase (NAT) and hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase (HIOMT). Pineal glands from C57BL/6J mice have neither NAT nor HIOMT activity. These results suggest that the two genes involved in melatonin deficiency are responsible for the absence of normal NAT and HIOMT enzyme activity.     

Melatonin, a pineal substance: effect on the rat ovary

Daily injection of microgram amounts of melatonin in rats decreased the incidence of estrus and reduced ovarian weight. Circulating melatonin was selectively taken up and retained by the ovary and pineal gland; this effect was reduced by exposure of rats to constant light. A single injection of melatonin lowered the incidence of estrus among rats exposed to constant light.     

Regulation of the mammalian pineal by non-rod, non-cone, ocular photoreceptors

In mammals, ocular photoreceptors mediate an acute inhibition of pineal melatonin by light. The effect of rod and cone loss on this response was assessed by combining the rd mutation with a transgenic ablation of cones (cl) to produce mice lacking both photoreceptor classes. Despite the loss of all known retinal photoreceptors, rd/rd cl mice showed normal suppression of pineal melatonin in response to monochromatic light of wavelength 509 nanometers. These data indicate that mammals have additional ocular photoreceptors that they use in the regulation of temporal physiology.     

Free-running activity rhythms in the rat: entrainment by melatonin

The pineal gland hormone melatonin may play a role in synchronization of rat circadian rhythms. Free-running activity rhythms of the rat were entrained by a daily melatonin injection, with entrainment occurring when the onset of activity coincided with the time of daily injections. When injections were stopped, activity rhythms became free-running again. Thus in pharmacological experiments, the time of day of melatonin administration is crucial.     

Enzymatic synthesis of melatonin in avian pineal body: extraretinal response to light

In the chick pineal body, activity of the melatonin-forming enzyme hydroxyindole-O-methyl transferase is greater in the light than in darkness. Neither bilateral enucleation of the eyes nor sympathetic denervation prevented this light-induced elevation of enzyme activity. This fact indicates that in the bird, in contrast to mammals, neither the retinas nor sympathetic innervation of the pineal body are essential for environmental control of melatonin formation.     

Melatonin: a coordinating signal for mammalian reproduction?

There is a daily rhythm in the production of the pineal hormone melatonin in all mammalian species. Production is stimulated by darkness and inhibited by light. This provides a signal reflecting the changing environmental lighting cycle. In seasonally breeding mammals that use changes in the photoperiod to time their reproductive cycles, temporal signals to the reproductive system are controlled by the daily rhythm in melatonin production.     

Melatonin synthesis: adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate and norepinephrine stimulate N-acetyltransferase

Treatment of cultured rat pineal glands with norepinephrine or dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate causes a six- to tenfold stimulation of N-acetyltransferase. This enzyme converts serotonin to N-acetylserotonin, the immediate precursor of melatonin. The increased synthesis of melatonin caused by norepinephrine treatment appears to be the result of stimulation of N-acetyltransferase by an adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate mechanism.     

Pineal gland: dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate stimulation of labeled melatonin production

In organ cultures of intact rat pineal glands, N(6)O(2')-dibutyryl adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate stimulates the conversion of tritiated trytophan to tritiated melatonin, as does L-norepinephrine. Potential sites of stimulation of melatonin production by dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate are discussed, based on observations that the dibutyryl analog also stimulates the conversion of serotonin labeled with carbon-14 to carbon-14-labeled melatonin without altering hydroxyin-dole-O-methyl transferase activity or intracellular accumulation of serotonin labeled with carbon-14.     

MELATONIN SYNTHESIS IN THE PINEAL GLAND: CONTROL BY LIGHT

In rats placed in continuous darkness for 6 days, there is a striking increase in the activity of melatonin-synthesizing-enzyme (hydroxyindole-0-methyl transferase) in the pineal gland, but no change in the activity of monoamine oxidase. Since melatonin appears to have a hormonal role in mammals, and its synthesis is confined to the pineal gland, the inhibition of hydroxyindole-O-methyl transferase by light may constitute a mechanism of neuroendocrine regulation.     

褪黑素及其在植物中的功能研究进展(英文)

褪黑素是一种广为人知的动物激素,在动物中由松果体合成与分泌,参与动物的昼夜节律的调节。现已发现褪黑素在高等植物中广泛存在,但是目前有关褪黑素在植物中的功能的研究还不是很多。已有的研究表明,褪黑素在植物中可能的作用有调节光周期、参与生长调节、清除活性氧、提高抗氧化酶活性等。根据近年的研究结果对植物中褪黑素的作用进行综述,重点阐述已经发现的褪黑素在植物上的功能作用,对其潜在生理功能进行了预测,并指出了目前研究中的不足,突出需要重点研究的方向。     

Enzymatic O-methylation of N-acetylserotonin to melatonin

An enzyme, hydroxyindole-O-methyl transferase, that can transfer the methyl group of S-adenosylmethionine to the hydroxy group of N-acetylserotonin to form the hormone melatonin is described. This enzyme, which is highly localized in the pineal gland, also O-methylates serotonin.     

Circadian rhythm in pineal tyrosine hydroxylase

Tyrosine hydroxylase is the rate-limiting enzyme in catecholamine synthesis. The rat pineal gland is richly innervated by sympathetic nerves from the superior cervical ganglia. The activity of tyrosine hydroxylase was measured in rat pineal gland at 4-hour intervals over a daily cycle of 12 hours of light (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and 12 hours of darkness. The results indicate a circadian rhythm with the maximum activity, at 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., about triple the low values observed at 3 p.m. The pattern is similar in phase to that previously reported for melatonin and hydroxyindole-O-methyl transferase activity.     

褪黑素调控绵羊季节性发情的研究进展

褪黑素是松果腺细胞合成的吲哚胺类激素中生物活性最高的1种神经激素,该激素调节着体内的多种生理活动。对褪黑素的合成、代谢、作用机制以及对绵羊的季节性发情的影响进行了阐述。     

Brain receptors sensitive to indole compounds: function in control of luteinizing hormone secretion

The placement of melatonin and of 5-hydroxytryptophol in the median eminence of castrated male rats is followed 5 days later by a significant decrease in pituitary stores of luteinizing hormone. Pituitary reserve of this hormone is also depleted after the implantation of melatonin, 5-hydroxytryptophol, and 5-methoxytryptophol in the reticular formation of the midbrain. It is suggested that these indole compounds, which are normally synthesized in the pineal gland, may intervene in the control of the secretion of luteinizing hormone, possibly by acting on specific receptors localized in the median eminence and in the midbrain.     

Melatonin: its inhibition of pineal antigonadotrophic activity in male hamsters

Exposure of male hamsters to short daily photoperiods (1 hour of light and 23 hours of darkness daily for 9 weeks led to total involution of the testes and accessory sex organs (seminal vesicles and coagulating glands). Pituitary levels of immunoreactive prolaction also decreased by about 60 percent after dark exposure. The inhibitory effects of darkness on the reproductive organs were prevented either by pinealectomy or by the subcutaneous implantation of a melatonin-beeswax pellet into the animals each week. Both pinealectomy and melatonin treatment also returned pituitary levels of prolactin toward normal. The results suggest that melatonin is not the pineal antigonadotrophic factor in the male golden hamster.     

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate: stimulation of melatonin and serotonin synthesis in cultured rat pineals

Dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate, like norepinephrine, stimulates the synthesis of labeled melatonin and serotonin from tryptophan labeled with carbon-14 by rat pineals in organ culture. Unlike norepinephrine, dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate does not enhance the accumulation of labeled tryptophan or protein within the pineal. These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that cyclic adenosine monophosphate mediates some, but not all, of the effects of norepinephrine.     

Indole metabolism in the pineal gland: a circadian rhythm in N-acetyltransferase

The activity of N-acetyltransferase in the rat pineal gland is more than 15 times higher at night than during the day. This circadian rhythm persists in complete darkness, or in blinded animals, and is suppressed in constant lighting. The N-acetyltransferase rhythm is 180 degrees out of phase with the serotonin rhythm and is similar to the norepinephrine and melatonin rhythms. Experiments in vitro indicate that norepinephrine, not serotonin, regulates the activity of N-acetyl-transferase through a highly specific receptor.     

Hair color, molt, and testis size in male, short-tailed weasels treated with melatonin

Melatonin in beeswax was implanted in male weasels (Mustela erminea). Brown weasels and white animals undergoing the spring change to the brown pelage and reproductive activity molted, grew a new white coat, and became reproductively quiescent after treatment. Controls retained or acquired the brown coat and developed or maintained enlarged testes. Treated weasels with pituitary autografts under the kidney capsule grew brown hair after hair growth was initiated by plucking. It is suggested that the pineal gland product, melatonin, initiates changes in the central nervous system and endocrines which result in molting, growth of the white winter pelage, and reproductive quiescence in the weasel.     

褪黑素受体Mel1a在鸭不同组织中的表达研究

褪黑素是由松果体分泌的吲哚类激素,褪黑素通过与其受体（Mel 1a, Mel 1b and Mel 1c）结合发挥对动物的节律性,生殖调控,抗凋亡和抗氧化等调节作用。为探究Mel1a mRNA和Mel1a蛋白在鸭不同组织中的表达与分布以及在各个组织的相对表达量,研究褪黑素通过Mel1a受体参与鸭的生殖调控作用及其他生物学效应奠定基础,采集鸭心、脾、大脑、小脑、肾、肝、肺、胰和骨骼肌肉组织,利用PCR、免疫组织化学和RT PCR技术研究Mel1a mRNA和Mel1a蛋白在鸭各组织中表达分布以及Mel1a mRNA的相对表达量。研究结果表明：鸭Mel1a mRNA在心、脾、大脑、小脑、肾、肝、肺、卵巢、胰和骨骼肌组织中均存在表达;Mel1a蛋白在大脑、肺、肝、骨骼肌、肾、心和胰组织中均有表达;Mel1a mRNA定量结果表明,各组织中的Mel1a mRNA表达量存在差异,大脑、肺、卵巢、脾、小脑和胰脏的相对表达量较高,而肝、骨骼肌、肾和心的相对表达量较低。褪黑素首先通过与其受体结合而发挥生理调控功能,所以通过研究Mel1a mRNA和蛋白在不同组织的表达分布及其相对表达量,为研究褪黑素及其受体的生理功能如调控昼夜节律,抗凋亡、抗氧化、增强免疫力、卵母细胞成熟以及胚胎的发育探究提供基础。     

两种鲭科以及其他鱼类松果体窗形态结构的比较

为了解鲭科鱼类颅顶松果体窗的结构和其与生活习性、鱼类系统进化的关系、利用光镜、X射线同步辐射技术以及组织石蜡切片技术观察了黄鳍金枪鱼（Thunnus albacares）和日本鲐鱼渊（Pneumatophorus japonicus）松果体窗的组织学结构。此外,通过随机取样分属9目17科的20种鱼类标本,检测松果体窗形态结构,分析松果体窗与鱼类进化发育的关系,并探讨其在鱼体可能发挥的生理功能。研究结果表明,具松果体窗的鱼类大都居于近海或淡水水域的底层,松果体窗的产生与它们的生存环境有一定关系,这种特殊的生理结构可以使鱼类在弱光环境中尽可能多地接受光线,让光线到达大脑并调节生理功能。同时,具有洄游特性的海洋鱼类也具有松果体窗结构,这种结构有利于鱼类通过感知光线的变换来确定洄游路线。