Melatonin receptors: Current status, facts, and hypothesis

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1990 · Life Sciences; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0024-3205(90)90020-R· OSTI ID:6921837

Stankov, B; Reiter, R J ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio (USA)

Great progress has been made in the identification of melatonin binding sites, commonly identified as melatonin receptors by many authors, in recent years. The bulk of these studies have investigated the sites using either autoradiographic and biochemical techniques with the majority of the experiments being done on the rat, Djungarian and Syrian hamster, and sheep, although human tissue has also been employed. Many of the studies have identified melatonin binding in the central nervous system with either tritium- or iodine-labelled ligands. The latter ligand seems to provide the most reproducible and consistent data. Of the central neural tissues examined, the suprachiasmatic nuclei are most frequently mentioned as a location for melatonin binding sites although binding seems to be widespread in the brain. The other tissue that has been prominently mentioned as a site for melatonin binding is the pars tuberalis of the anterior pituitary gland. There may be time-dependent variations in melatonin binding densities in both neural and pituitary gland tissue. Very few attempts have been made to identify melatonin binding outside of the central nervous system despite the widespread actions of melatonin. Preliminary experiments have been carried out on the intracellular second messengers which mediate the actions of melatonin.

• OSTI ID: 6921837
• Journal Information: Life Sciences; (USA), Journal Name: Life Sciences; (USA) Vol. 46:14; ISSN 0024-3205; ISSN LIFSA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550201* -- Biochemistry-- Tracer Techniques
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
AMINES
ANIMALS
AROMATICS
AUTORADIOGRAPHY
AZAARENES
AZOLES
BIOCHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
HAMSTERS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDOLES
IODINE ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
KINETICS
MAMMALS
MAN
MELATONIN
MEMBRANE PROTEINS
NERVOUS SYSTEM
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PRIMATES
PROTEINS
PYRROLES
RATS
REACTION KINETICS
RECEPTORS
RODENTS
RUMINANTS
SHEEP
TIME DEPENDENCE
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
TRYPTAMINES
VERTEBRATES