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Abstract
We investigated the age-related changes in the arcadian rhythm of plasma melatonin
as a potential index of brain aging in man. The subjects were 5 young men aged 19–25
years, 11 older men aged 51–65 years, 6 elderly men aged 66–89 years, 7 young women
aged 19–25 years, 5 premenopausal women aged 45–50 years, 8 postmenopausal women aged
51–65 years, and 5 elderly women aged 66–75 years. They were all physically and psychiatrically
normal. Serial blood samples were drawn from 8:00 am until 8:00 am on the next day,
with the indoor illumination set at 300 Lux from 7:00 am until 4:00 pm and at 50 Lux
thereafter. Plasma melatonin was estimated by radioimmunoassay. The results show that
there is a significant negative correlation between age and 24-hr secretion of plasma
melatonin (r = −0.952, p < 0.0001), between age and peak levels of plasma melatonin (r = −0.937, p < 0.00001 ), and between age and the lag in time from sunset to the onset of significant
elevation of plasma melatonin over daytime values (r = 0.916, p < 0.0001 ). It is concluded that study of the circadian rhythm of plasma melatonin
may prove to be a useful index of the aging process.
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Article info
Publication history
Received in revised form:
August 5,
1985
Received:
May 18,
1985
Footnotes
☆Supported in part by the Montreal WHO Colloborating Centre, Canada.N.B. is a WHO fellow.
Identification
Copyright
© 1986 Published by Elsevier Inc.
