BIOMED   24552
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES BIOMEDICAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Melatonin therapy in patients with Alzheimer's disease
Autor/es:
CARDINALI DP; VIGO DE; OLIVAR N; VIDAL MF; BRUSCO LI
Revista:
Antioxidants
Editorial:
MDPI
Referencias:
Lugar: Basilea; Año: 2014 vol. 3 p. 245 - 277
ISSN:
2076-3921
Resumen:
Alzheimer?s disease (AD) is a major health
problem and a growing recognition exists that efforts to prevent it must be
undertaken by both governmental and non-governmental organizations. In this
context, the pineal product, melatonin, has a promising significance because of
its chronobiotic/cytoprotective properties potentially useful for a number of
aspects of AD. One of the features of advancing age is the gradual decrease in
circulating melatonin levels. A limited number of therapeutic trials have indicated
that melatonin has a therapeutic value as a neuroprotective drug in the
treatment of AD and minimal cognitive impairment (which may evolve to AD). Both
in vitro and in vivo, melatonin prevented the neurodegeneration seen in
experimental models of AD. For these effects to occur, doses of melatonin about
two orders of magnitude higher than those required to affect sleep and
circadian rhythmicity are needed. More recently, attention has been focused on
the development of potent melatonin analogs with prolonged effects, which were
employed in clinical trials in sleep-disturbed or depressed patients in doses
considerably higher than those employed for melatonin. In view that the
relative potencies of the analogs are higher than that of the natural compound,
clinical trials employing melatonin in the range of 50?100 mg/day are urgently
needed to assess its therapeutic validity in neurodegenerative disorders such
as AD.