Melatonin: General Features and its Role in Psychiatric Disorders

Abstract

In recent years, there is a growing interest in melatonin all over the world. The main task of protecting the body's biological clock, which set the rhythm of melatonin, involves many biological and physiological processes of the body. Cell renewal, strengthening of the immune system and body temperature regulation are other tasks of melatonin. Melatonin, with its lipophilic property, is the most powerful antioxidant as it can reach all body areas and can easily pass the blood-brain barrier. The fact that individuals with low levels of melatonin have sleep problems lead to the consideration of melatonin as a therapeutic medicine in this field. The detailed researches have shown that melatonin can improve sleep quality without changing the total duration of sleep. Nevertheless, despite high number of researches done, the functions of melatonin have not yet fully understood. Therefore, review of the available information related to melatonin will be guide for researchers in the field.

Keywords

• Melatonin
• sleep
• biological clock
• antioxidant.