The evaluation of melatonin as a possible antidepressive

• Main Author: Skene, Debra Jean
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Rhodes University 1980
• Subjects: Melatonin; Antidepressants
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001465

Melatonin, a hormone of the pineal gland, was evaluated in a variety of animal models of depression. Measurements of the frog righting reflex and rat locomotor activity showed that low doses of melatonin have a serotonin-like potentiating effect following monoamine oxidase inhibition. High doses of melatonin caused a reduction in the duration of rat immobility in the Porsolt model of depression and exerted a chlorpromazine-like effect on conditioned avoidance behaviour. In view of the indoleamine hypothesis of depressive disorders, the possibility of melatonin being a potential antidepressive is discussed and it is concluded that melatonin might be useful in the treatment of "agitated" depressions