Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Gomes, Patrícia Rodrigues Lourenço
• Motta-Teixeira, Lívia Clemente
• Gallo, Camila Congentino
• Carmo Buonfiglio, Daniella do
• Camargo, Ludmilla Scodeler de
• Quintela, Telma
• Reiter, Russel J.
• Amaral, Fernanda Gaspar do
• Cipolla-Neto, José

Titel

Maternal pineal melatonin in gestation and lactation physiology, and in fetal development and programming

Ist Teil von

• General and comparative endocrinology, 2021-01, Vol.300, p.113633-113633, Article 113633

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Elsevier ScienceDirect Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Melatonin regulates male and female reproductive systems.•Maternal melatonin blood levels increase during gestation.•Melatonin regulates maternal physiological adaptations to pregnancy and lactation.•The fetus depends on maternal melatonin, that crosses the placenta.•Melatonin regulates fetal development and programming of physiological functions. Pregnancy and lactation are reproductive processes that rely on physiological adaptations that should be timely and adequately triggered to guarantee both maternal and fetal health. Pineal melatonin is a hormone that presents daily and seasonal variations that synchronizes the organism’s physiology to the different demands across time through its specific mechanisms and ways of action. The reproductive system is a notable target for melatonin as it actively participates on reproductive physiology and regulates the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonads axis, influencing gonadotropins and sexual hormones synthesis and release. For its antioxidant properties, melatonin is also vital for the oocytes and spermatozoa quality and viability, and for blastocyst development. Maternal pineal melatonin blood levels increase during pregnancy and triggers the maternal physiological alterations in energy metabolism both during pregnancy and lactation to cope with the energy demands of both periods and to promote adequate mammary gland development. Moreover, maternal melatonin freely crosses the placenta and is the only source of this hormone to the fetus. It importantly times the conceptus physiology and influences its development and programing of several functions that depend on neural and brain development, ultimately priming adult behavior and energy and glucose metabolism. The present review aims to explain the above listed melatonin functions, including the potential alterations observed in the progeny gestated under maternal chronodisruption and/or hypomelatoninemia.