Skip Navigation



Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on May 5, 2006
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agl036
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
41/4/386    most recent
agl036v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by DANEL, T.
Right arrow Articles by TOUITOU, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by DANEL, T.
Right arrow Articles by TOUITOU, Y.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol. All rights reserved
Received January 4, 2006
Revised March 24, 2006
Accepted March 30, 2006

Article

ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION DOES NOT AFFECT MELATONIN CIRCADIAN SYNCHRONIZATION IN HEALTHY MEN

THIERRY DANEL 1 * and YVAN TOUITOU 2

1 Service d'Addictologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Lille 59037 Lille Cedex, France; Service de Biochimie médicale et de Biologie moléculaire, Faculté de Médecine Pitié Salpêtrière 75013, Paris, France
2 Service de Biochimie médicale et de Biologie moléculaire, Faculté de Médecine Pitié Salpêtrière 75013, Paris, France

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
THIERRY DANEL, E-mail: t-danel{at}chru-lille.fr


  Abstract

Alcohol intake alters melatonin secretion both in healthy volunteers and in alcoholics in a variety of different situations (while drinking, during or after withdrawal, and with neurological complications). This alteration may reduce secretion or affect its circadian rhythm, thus causing daytime secretion in some alcoholics. We sought to determine if daytime melatonin secretion is caused directly by acute alcohol consumption or if it instead indicates a change in circadian synchronization. Because alcohol consumption as it occurs in alcoholics (continuous consumption of large amounts) has never been examined in healthy volunteers, we exposed 11 healthy volunteers to 256 g of alcohol over 24 h to study the circadian profiles of melatonin secretion. Our results demonstrate a lack of daytime secretion in our subjects. This suggests that the disordered circadian melatonin secretion seen in alcoholics indicates a shift in melatonin secretion rather than an acute effect of alcohol on this secretion, or alternatively, that it is a direct effect of chronic rather than acute exposure to high blood alcohol levels.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Alcohol AlcoholHome page
T. Danel, O. Cottencin, L. Tisserand, and Y. Touitou
Inversion of Melatonin Circadian Rhythm in Chronic Alcoholic Patients during Withdrawal: Preliminary Study on Seven Patients
Alcohol Alcohol., January 1, 2009; 44(1): 42 - 45.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Alcohol AlcoholHome page
T. Hatonen, S. Forsblom, T. Kieseppa, J. Lonnqvist, and T. Partonen
Circadian Phenotype in Patients with the Co-Morbid Alcohol Use and Bipolar Disorders
Alcohol Alcohol., September 1, 2008; 43(5): 564 - 568.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.