Utility of salivary melatonin measurements in the assessment of the pineal physiology in newborn infants

作者：Bagci Soyhan^*; Mueller Andreas; Rein**erg Jochen; Heep Axel; Bartmann Peter; Franz Axel R

来源：Clinical Biochemistry, 2010, 43(10-11): 868-872.

DOI：10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2010.04.059

• Melatonin
• Saliva
• Serum
• Newborn
• Correlation

Subjects: The aim of this study was to assess whether salivary melatonin could be used as a reliable alternative to serum melatonin to study the pineal physiology in newborn infants.
Design and methods: The 95 newborn infants were allocated to four groups according to the time of sampling (09-11 am, 03-05 pm, 09-11 pm, and 03-05 am).
Results: The median melatonin levels in serum and saliva were not significantly different between groups: median (interquartile range), 18.4 pg/mL (13.9-26.0 pg/mL) and 10.6 pg/mL (7.5-14.9 pg/mL); 13.3 pg/mL (11.5-19.0 pg/mL) and 9.1 pg/mL (7.8-14.2 pg/mL); 16.0 pg/mL (12.4-18.7 pg/mL) and 12.3 pg/mL (8.2-16.8 pg/mL); 13.0 pg/mL (8.8-27.4 pg/mL) and 11.2 pg/mL (7.7-16.6 pg/mL) for groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively (p>0.05). The results revealed a highly significant correlation between the serum and salivary melatonin levels (Pearson's correlation coefficient, r=0.763: P<0.001).
Conclusion: Melatonin levels in saliva reflect those in serum at any time of the day and like serum melatonin levels do not increase at night.