Melatonin, light and chronobiological disorders

Circadian regulation of slow waves in human sleep: Topographical aspects

Slow waves (SWs, 0.5–4 Hz) in field potentials during sleep reflect synchronized alternations between bursts of action potentials and periods of membrane hyperpolarization of cortical neurons. SWs decline during sleep and this is thought to be related to a reduction of synaptic strength in cortical networks and to be central to sleep's role in maintaining brain function. A central assumption in current concepts of sleep function is that SWs during sleep, and associated recovery processes, are independent of circadian rhythmicity. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying all SWs from 12 EEG derivations in 34 participants in whom 231 sleep periods were scheduled across the circadian cycle in a 10-day forced-desynchrony protocol which allowed estimation of the separate circadian and sleep-dependent modulation of SWs. Circadian rhythmicity significantly modulated the incidence, amplitude, frequency and the slope of the SWs such that the peaks of the circadian rhythms in these slow-wave parameters were located during the biological day. Topographical analyses demonstrated that the sleep-dependent modulation of SW characteristics was most prominent in frontal brain areas whereas the circadian effect was similar to or greater than the sleep-dependent modulation over the central and posterior brain regions.

The data demonstrate that circadian rhythmicity directly modulates characteristics of SWs thought to be related to synaptic plasticity and that this modulation depends on topography. These findings have implications for the understanding of local sleep regulation and conditions such as ageing, depression, and neurodegeneration which are associated with changes in SWs, neural plasticity and circadian rhythmicity.

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Slow waves (SWs) are thought essential for sleep-dependent recovery processes.

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Their amplitude, incidence, frequency and slope reflect synaptic strength.

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Their regulation has been postulated to be independent of circadian phase.

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We report that all characteristics of SWs depend on circadian phase.

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The strength of sleep dependent and circadian modulation depends on topography.

The endogenous melatonin profile as a marker for circadian phase position

Several circadian rhythms have been used to assess the phase of the endogenous circadian pacemaker (ECP). However, when more than one marker rhythm is measured, results do not always agree. Questions then inevitably arise. Are there multiple oscillators? Are some markers more reliable than others? Masking is a problem for all marker rhythms. Masking of melatonin is minimized by sampling under dim light. The dim-light melatonin onset (DLMO) is particularly convenient since it can usually be obtained before sleep. However, assessing the DLMO in low melatonin producers may be problematic, particularly with the commonly used operationally defined threshold of 10 pg/ml. This study evaluates various circadian phase markers provided by the plasma melatonin profile in 14 individuals, several of whom are low melatonin producers. The amount (amplitude) of melatonin production appears to influence the phase of many points on the melatonin profile. Accordingly, when low producers are in a data set, we now prefer a lower DLMO threshold than the one previously recommended (10 pg/ml). Indeed, there are some low producers who never exceed this threshold at any time. Radioimmunoassays are now available that have the requisite sensitivity and specificity to support the use of a lower threshold. Nevertheless, the dim-light melatonin offset (DLMOff), even when operationally defined at thresholds less than 10 pg/ml, appears to be confounded by amplitude in this study; in such cases, it may be preferable to use the melatonin synthesis offset (SynOff) because it is not confounded by amplitude and because, theoretically, it is temporally closer to the endogenous mechanism signaling the offset of production. The question of whether the termination mechanism of melatonin synthesis is related to an interval timer or to a second oscillator loosely coupled to the onset oscillator is probably best answered using the SynOff rather than the DLMOff. It is hoped that these findings will make a useful contribution to the debate on the best ways to use points on the melatonin profile to assess circadian phase position in humans.

The psychopharmacology of the human pineal

In many ways the pineal is an ideal endocrine gland for the biological psychiatrist. The gland is small, circumscribed and relatively homogeneous, so it can be studied either in tissue culture or in vivo. The results from such studies combine to give a well-characterized model for investigating noradrenergic neurotransmission. In the pineal as in the brain there is a noradrenaline uptake site, an autoreceptor which regulates noradrenaline release, and there are post-junctional β(1) and α(1)-adrenoceptors. In the pineal as in the brain the β(1) adrenoceptor is linked to adenylate cyclase and the α( 1)-adrenoceptor is coupled with phos phatidyl inositol (PI) turnover: both second messenger systems combine to influence mela tonin secretion.