Melatonin: Current Status and Perspectives

Advances in the Biosciences, Volume 29: Melatonin – Current Status and Perspectives is a compilation of papers by different authors presented in the Proceedings of an International Symposium on Melatonin, held in Bremen, Federal Republic of Germany on September 28-30, 1980. This volume is divided into six parts, wherein the first part covers the testing methods of melatonin; the use of the status of assay methods of melatonin; and related studies. Part 2 tracks the developments in melatonin histophysiology, with attempts to clarify cytological aspects of the indoleamine secretory process in the pineal gland; melatonin production by extra-pineal tissues; and other relationships with the pineal gland. Part 3 focuses on advances in melatonin physiology from hypothetical evolutionary function; the biochemistry and pharmacology of melatonin; to melatonin and pigment cell rhythmicity. Part 4 shows the progress made in molecular endocrinology, while Part 5 presents the results of human melatonin research and covers melatonin serum in humans. The last part is comprised of additional papers that are not classified in the former categories: studies of the effects of light on human plasma melatonin; the role of the environmental factors; and the histology melatonin localized in the salivary glands of the rat palate. This compilation of papers is intended for biochemists, neuroscientists, and researchers in the fields of endocrinology, human genetics, and pharmaceutical chemistry.