Fatigue Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Fatigue, including details on chronic fatigue syndrome, exhaustion, causes, diagnosis.

Sleep-anticipating effects of melatonin in the human brain.

Gorfine T, Assaf Y, Goshen-Gottstein Y, Yeshurun Y, Zisapel N

Department of Neurobiochemistry, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.

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.

Published 23 May 2006 in Neuroimage, 31(1): 410-8.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Fatigue Research Today. All Rights Reserved.