Sleep-anticipating effects of melatonin in the human brain

Gorfine, Tali, Assaf, Yaniv, Goshen-Gottstein, Yonatan, Yeshurun, Yaara and Zisapel, Nava 2006. Sleep-anticipating effects of melatonin in the human brain. NeuroImage 31 (1) , pp. 410-418. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.11.024

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Abstract

Melatonin, the hormone produced nocturnally by the pineal gland, is an endogenous regulator of the sleep–wake cycle. The effects of melatonin on brain activities and their relation to induction of sleepiness were studied in a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. Melatonin, but not placebo, reduced task-related activity in the rostro-medial aspect of the occipital cortex during a visual-search task and in the auditory cortex during a music task. These effects correlated with subjective measurements of fatigue. In addition, melatonin enhanced the activation in the left parahippocampus in an autobiographic memory task. Results demonstrate that melatonin modulates brain activity in a manner resembling actual sleep although subjects are fully awake. Furthermore, the fatigue inducing effect of melatonin on brain activity is essentially different from that of sleep deprivation thus revealing differences between fatigues related to the circadian sleep regulation as opposed to increased homeostatic sleep need. Our findings highlight the role of melatonin in priming sleep-associated brain activation patterns in anticipation of sleep.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1053-8119
Last Modified:	21 Aug 2019 02:17
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/91807

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