TY - JOUR
T1 - Circadian uses of melatonin in humans
AU - Lewy, Alfred
AU - Emens, Jonathan
AU - Jackman, Angela
AU - Yuhas, Krista
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by grants from the Public Health Service (R01 MH55703, R01 MH56874, R01 AG21826 and R01 HD42125 to Dr. Lewy; and 5 M01 RR000334, to the General Clinical Research Center of OHSU) and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (2000 NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award to Dr. Lewy). Dr. Emens is supported by a grant from the Public Health Service (K23 RR17636).
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Melatonin in humans can be an independent or dependent variable. Measurement of endogenous melatonin levels under dim-light conditions, particularly the dim-light melatonin onset (DLMO), has received increasing attention among researchers, and for clinicians it may soon become a convenient test that can be done at home using saliva collections in the evening, without interfering with sleep. Melatonin, even at low physiological doses, can cause advances (shifts to an earlier time) or delays (shifts to a later time) depending on when it is administered on its phase-response curve (in most sighted people, these times are approximately in the p.m. and in the a.m., respectively). Although both bright light and melatonin can be used separately or together in the treatment of circadian phase disorders in sighted people - such as advanced and delayed sleep phase syndromes, jet lag, shift-work maladaptation, and winter depression (seasonal affective disorder, or SAD) - melatonin is the treatment of choice in totally blind people. These people provide a unique opportunity to study the human circadian system without the overwhelming effects of ocularly mediated light, thus permitting us to establish that all blind free-runners (BFRs) studied under high resolution appear to have phase-advancing and phase-delaying responses to as yet unidentified zeitgebers (time givers) that are usually too weak to result in entrainment.
AB - Melatonin in humans can be an independent or dependent variable. Measurement of endogenous melatonin levels under dim-light conditions, particularly the dim-light melatonin onset (DLMO), has received increasing attention among researchers, and for clinicians it may soon become a convenient test that can be done at home using saliva collections in the evening, without interfering with sleep. Melatonin, even at low physiological doses, can cause advances (shifts to an earlier time) or delays (shifts to a later time) depending on when it is administered on its phase-response curve (in most sighted people, these times are approximately in the p.m. and in the a.m., respectively). Although both bright light and melatonin can be used separately or together in the treatment of circadian phase disorders in sighted people - such as advanced and delayed sleep phase syndromes, jet lag, shift-work maladaptation, and winter depression (seasonal affective disorder, or SAD) - melatonin is the treatment of choice in totally blind people. These people provide a unique opportunity to study the human circadian system without the overwhelming effects of ocularly mediated light, thus permitting us to establish that all blind free-runners (BFRs) studied under high resolution appear to have phase-advancing and phase-delaying responses to as yet unidentified zeitgebers (time givers) that are usually too weak to result in entrainment.
KW - Blind people
KW - Circadian rhythms
KW - Melatonin
KW - Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
KW - Winter depression
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U2 - 10.1080/07420520500545862
DO - 10.1080/07420520500545862
M3 - Article
C2 - 16687313
AN - SCOPUS:33646703126
SN - 0742-0528
VL - 23
SP - 403
EP - 412
JO - Chronobiology International
JF - Chronobiology International
IS - 1-2
ER -