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Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access first published online on November 22, 2008
This version published online on November 25, 2008
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agn091
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol. All rights reserved

Inversion of Melatonin Circadian Rhythm in Chronic Alcoholic Patients during Withdrawal: Preliminary Study on Seven Patients

Thierry Danel1, Olivier Cottencin1,*, Laurence Tisserand1 and Yvan Touitou2

1 Department of Addictology, University Hospital of Lille, Lille, France
2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Paris 6, Paris, France

* Corresponding author: Department of Addictology, University of Lille 2, University Hospital of Lille, 57 Bd de Metz, 59037 Lille, Cedex, France. Tel: +33-3-20-44-58-38; Fax: +33-3-20-44-54-37; E-mail: ocottencin{at}chru-lille.fr

Received 2 July 2008; first review notified 21 August 2008; in revised form 29 August 2008; accepted 3 October 2008


  Abstract

Aims: The inversion of melatonin circadian rhythm secretion in some alcoholics during both intake and acute withdrawal has been widely reported. In the same way, what happens to this inversion when these patients are in long-term withdrawal is not known. To document this abnormality in alcoholics after withdrawal we investigated melatonin secretion observed during chronic alcoholization and after withdrawal. Methods: We measured the urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (6SM) (6SM/creatinine ratio), main metabolite of the hormone, in two fractions, one diurnal and the other nocturnal, in seven alcohol-dependent patients presenting with this abnormality during alcoholization at two times: in acute withdrawal phase (under benzodiazepines) and 15 days after beginning of withdrawal (free of any psychotropic treatment).Results: Our results show that this reversed rhythm of melatonin secretion as seen by the diurnal excretion of 6SM (6SM/creatinine ratio) persists during acute withdrawal in more than half of the patients and is still present 15 days after withdrawal in three patients.Conclusion: It is remarkable that the inversion of the melatonin rhythms gets corrected in four out of seven patients after withdrawal. But, the circadian disorganization of melatonin secretion in three patients could underline a desynchronization in some alcoholic patients and may indicate more widespread circadian temporal structure disturbances in these patients.

The first line of table 2 now correctly reads '7 alcohol-dependent subjects' instead of '12 alcohol-dependent subjects'.


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