文章基本信息

标题：
Could long-term administration of melatonin to prepubertal children affect timing of puberty? A clinician’s perspective
作者：Addo Boafo ; Addo Boafo ; Stephanie Greenham 等
期刊名称：Nature and Science of Sleep
印刷版ISSN：1179-1608
电子版ISSN：1179-1608
出版年度：2019
卷号：11
页码：1-10
DOI：10.2147/NSS.S181365
语种：English
出版社：Dove Medical Press Ltd
摘要：Exogenous melatonin can be used to treat sleep disturbance in adults, children, and adolescents. While its short-term use is considered safe, there are some concerns that long-term use might delay children’s sexual maturation, possibly by disrupting the decline in nocturnal melatonin levels that occur at the onset of puberty. This narrative review aimed to summarize some of the current knowledge about the potential effects of exogenous melatonin on puberty. We found no clinical studies that experimentally tested the effects of melatonin on pubertal timing in children, but we reviewed the small number of observational studies. We also drew on animal data to try to answer our question. The photoperiod and melatonin-mediated seasonal transitions in sexual activity and breeding in some mammals across the seasons have been used as a model of sexual development in mammals, including humans. The switch from non-sexual activity (in the non-breeding period) to sexual activity (in the breeding period) has been likened to the onset of puberty as there are similarities between the two. We conclude that to investigate an association between melatonin and pubertal timing, it will be important to conduct long-term randomized controlled trials of latency age children and also examine the cellular and systems-level interactions between melatonin and kisspeptin, a recently identified neuropeptide with a locus of action at the gonadotropin releasing hormone neurons that is important in contributing to the timing of puberty onset.
关键词：melatonin; puberty; hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal-axis; kisspeptin; sleep disturbance