U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Divider Arrow National Institutes of Health Divider Arrow NCATS

Details

Stereochemistry ACHIRAL
Molecular Formula C13H16N2O2
Molecular Weight 232.2783
Optical Activity NONE
Defined Stereocenters 0 / 0
E/Z Centers 0
Charge 0

SHOW SMILES / InChI
Structure of MELATONIN

SMILES

COC1=CC2=C(NC=C2CCNC(C)=O)C=C1

InChI

InChIKey=DRLFMBDRBRZALE-UHFFFAOYSA-N
InChI=1S/C13H16N2O2/c1-9(16)14-6-5-10-8-15-13-4-3-11(17-2)7-12(10)13/h3-4,7-8,15H,5-6H2,1-2H3,(H,14,16)

HIDE SMILES / InChI

Molecular Formula C13H16N2O2
Molecular Weight 232.2783
Charge 0
Count
MOL RATIO 1 MOL RATIO (average)
Stereochemistry ACHIRAL
Additional Stereochemistry No
Defined Stereocenters 0 / 0
E/Z Centers 0
Optical Activity NONE

Description

Melatonin (5-methoxy N-acetyltryptamine) is a hormone synthesized and released from the pineal gland at night, which acts on specific high affinity G-protein coupled receptors to regulate various aspects of physiology and behaviour, including circadian and seasonal responses, and some retinal, cardiovascular and immunological functions. Melatonin is also made synthetically and available without a prescription as an over-the-counter (OTC) dietary supplement in the U.S. Melatonin supplementation has many uses, however, it has been widely studied for treatment of jet lag and sleep disorders. Parents may consider using melatonin to help their child who has a trouble falling asleep. A medical professional should always evaluate insomnia or other sleeping disorders in children. Additionally, melatonin has been shown to protect against oxidative stress in various, highly divergent experimental systems. There are many reasons for its remarkable protective potential. In mammals, melatonin binds to a number of receptor subtypes including high-affinity (MT1 and MT2) and low-affinity (MT3, nuclear orphan receptors) binding sites, which are distributed throughout the central nervous system and periphery.

CNS Activity

Originator

Approval Year

Targets

Primary TargetPharmacologyConditionPotency

Conditions

ConditionModalityTargetsHighest PhaseProduct
Primary
Unknown
Primary
Unknown

PubMed

Sample Use Guides

In Vivo Use Guide
Fast Release Melatonin (FR MLT): 3mg capsules of melatonin will be used. The dose of FR MLT will be 3 mg for children less than or equal to 20 kg, and 6 mg for children greater than 20 kg. The study medication will be given one hour before bedtime, once daily. Drug: Timed Release Melatonin (TR MLT): 3 mg capsules will be used. The dose of TR MLT will be will be 3 mg for children less than or equal to 20 kg, and 6 mg for children greater than 20 kg. The study medication will be given one hour before bedtime, once daily.
Route of Administration: Oral
In Vitro Use Guide
It was observed that 10-7 M melatonin was considered an optimum concentration and significantly promoted the in vitro development of murine microinjected pronuclear embryos, as indicated by the increased blastocyst rate, hatching blastocyst rate and blastocyst cell number. When these blastocysts were implanted into recipient mice, the pregnancy rate and birth rate were significantly higher than those of the microinjected control, respectively. Mechanistic studies revealed that melatonin treatment reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cellular apoptosis during in vitro embryo development and improved the quality of the blastocysts. The implantation of quality-improved blastocysts led to elevated pregnancy and birth rates. In conclusion, the results revealed that the anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic activities of melatonin improved the quality of microinjected pronuclear embryos and subsequently increased both the efficiency of embryo implantation and the birth rate of the pups. Therefore, the melatonin supplementation may provide a novel alternative method for generating large numbers of transgenic mice and this method can probably be used in human-assisted reproduction and genome editing.
Substance Class Chemical
Record UNII
JL5DK93RCL
Record Status Validated (UNII)
Record Version