Immunoreactive melatonin has been studied in normal human volunteers, both men and women, at different times of day and different times of the year. At 2400, but not at 0800 or 1200, there are very large inter-individual variations in mean levels, the maximum difference being fivefold. Intra-individual variations are seen at different times of the year at 2400 and 0800, with low values in spring and autumn and high values in summer and winter.
References
1.
ArendtJ. (1978). Melatonin assays in body fluids. Journal of Neural Transmission, Supplement, 13, 265–278.
2.
ArendtJ.SymonsA.MarstonA. (1979). Annual variations of radioimmunoassayable melatonin in the ewe (Abstract). Acta Endocrinologia Congress.
3.
ArendtJ.WetterbergL.HeydenT.SizonenkoP. C.PaunierL. (1977a). Radioimmunoassay of melatonin: human serum and cerebrospinal fluid, Hormone Research, 8, 65–75.
4.
ArendtJ.Wirz-JusticeA.BradtkeJ. (1977b). Annual rhythm of serum melatonin in man. Neuroscience Letters, 7, 327–330.
5.
EvansD. A. P.ManleyK. A.McKusikV. A. (1960). Genetic control of isoniazid metabolism in man. British Medical Journal, 2, 485.
6.
EvansD. A. P.WhiteT. A. (1964). Human acetylation polymorphism. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, 63, 394–398.
7.
HanssenT.HeydenT.SundbergI.WetterbergL. (1977). Effect of propranolol on serum melatonin. Lancet, 2, 309.
8.
HowdR. A.SeoK. S.WurtmanR. J. (1976). Rat liver N-acetyltransferase: inhibition by melatonin. Biochemical Pharmacology, 25, 977–978.
9.
JimersonD. C.LynchH. J.PostR. M.WurtmanR. J.BunneyW. E. (1977). Urinary melatonin rhythms during sleep deprivation in depressed patients and normals. Life Sciences, 20, 1501–1508.
10.
KennawayD. J.FrithE. G.PhillipouG.MatthewsC.SeamarkR.K. (1977). A specific radioimmunoassay for melatonin in biological tissues and fluids and its validation by gas-chromatography-mass-spectrometry. Endocrinology, 101, 119–123.
11.
LewyA. J.MarkeyS. P. (1978). Analysis of melatonin in human plasma by gas-chromatography negative chemical ionisation mass spectrometry. Science, 201, 741–743.
12.
LynchH. J.OzakiY.WurtmanR. J. (1978). The measurement of melatonin in mammalian tissues and body fluids. Journal of Neural Transmission, Supplement, 13, 251–254.
13.
LynchH. J.WurtmanR. J.MoskovitzM. A.ArcherM. C.HoM. H. (1975). Daily rhythm in human urinary melatonin. Science, 187, 169–171.
14.
MooreR. Y.KleinD. C. (1974). Visual pathways and the central neural control of a circadian rhythm in pineal serotonin N-acetyltransferase activity. Brain Research, 71, 17–33.
15.
OzakiY.LynchH. J. (1976). Presence of melatonin in plasma and urine of pinealectomised rats. Endocrinology, 99, 641–644.
16.
PelhamR. W.VaughanG. M.SandockK. L.VaughanM. K. (1973). Twenty four hour cycle of a melatonin-like substance in the plasma of human males. Journal of Clincial Endocrinology and Metabolism, 37, 341–344.
17.
ReiterR. J. (1973). Comparative physiology: pineal gland. Annual Review of Physiology, 35, 305–328.
18.
RollagM. D.NiswenderG. D. (1976). Radioimmunoassay of serum concentrations of melatonin in sheep exposed to different lighting regimes. Endocrinology, 98, 482–489.
19.
SmithJ. A.PadwickD.MeeT. J. X.MinnemanK. P.BirdE. D. (1977). Synchronous diurnal rhythms in human blood melatonin and in human post-mortem pineal enzymes. Clinical Endocrinology, 6, 219–225.
20.
SmithJ. A.MeeT. J. X.BirdE. D. (1978). Human post-mortem pineal metabolic correlations with serum and CSF melatonin in man. Neuroscience Letters, Supplement, 1, 214. (Abstracts of the 2nd European Neuroscience meeting, Florence, September 4th-9th, 1978).
21.
TongY. L.LeeJ. K.HalbergF. (1973). Number-weighted mean cosinor technique resolves phase- and frequency-synchronised rhythms with differing mesors and amplitudes. International Journal of Chronobiology, 1, 365–366.
22.
Vivien-RoelsB.ArendtJ.Bradtke (1979). Circadian and circannual fluctuations of pineal indole-amines (serotonin, melatonin) in Testudo hermanni Gmelin. I. Under natural conditions of photoperiod and temperature. General and Comparative Endocrinology, (In press).
23.
WetterbergL.ArendtJ.PaunierL.SizonenkoP. C. S.van DonselaarW.HeydenT. (1976). Human serum melatonin changes during the menstrual cycle. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 42, 185–188.
24.
WetterbergL.ErikssonO.FribergY.VangboB. (1978). A simplified radioimmunoassay for melatonin and its application to biological fluids. Preliminary observations on the half-life of plasma melatonin in man. Clinica Chimica Acta, 86, 169–177.
25.
WilkinsonM.ArendtJ.BradtkeJ.de ZieglerD. (1977). Determination of dark-induced elevation of pineal N-acetyltransferase activity with simultaneous radioimmunoassay of melatonin in pineal, serum and pituitary of the male rat. Journal of Endocrinology, 72, 243–244.
26.
WilsonB. W.SneddonW.SilmanR. E.SmithI.MullenP. (1977). A gas-chromatography-mass-spectrometry method for the quantitative analysis of melatonin in plasma and CSF. Analytical Biochemistry, 81, 283–291.
27.
Wirz-JusticeA.ArendtJ. (1978). Diurnal, menstrual cycle and seasonal indole rhythms and their modification in affective disorders. Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, (In press).
28.
Wirz-JusticeA.FeerH.RichterR. (1977). Circannual rhythm in human plasma free and total tryptophan, platelet serotonin, monoamine oxidase activity and protein. Chronobiologia, 4, 165–166.