Exogenous Melatonin Regulates Puberty and the Hypothalamic GnRH-GnIH System in Female Mice.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Animal study without human clinical data
PubMed 36421874 · doi:10.3390/brainsci12111550
What was done
Female mice aged 22 days received daily subcutaneous melatonin (1 mg/kg) or saline for 10, 15, or 20 days. Investigators checked daily vaginal opening, evaluated ovarian and uterine morphology using hematoxylin and eosin staining, measured serum FSH, GnRH, and GnIH via ELISA, and quantified hypothalamic mRNA and protein expression of GnRH, GnIH, Kisspeptin, POMC, NPY, and GPR147 using RT-PCR and Western blotting.
What was found
The abstract reports directional findings without specific numerical values, effect sizes, or confidence intervals. Melatonin delayed vaginal opening and suppressed ovarian follicle and uterine wall growth. It reduced serum GnRH and FSH while increasing serum GnIH. Hypothalamic expression of GnIH and GPR147 increased, whereas expression of GnRH, Kisspeptin, POMC, and NPY decreased relative to saline controls.
Why it matters
This study delineates potential neuroendocrine pathways through which melatonin suppresses the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis to delay pubertal timing in female rodents.
Limits
Findings are limited to an animal model and cannot be directly translated to human pubertal development or oral melatonin dosing. The abstract provides no sample sizes, variance measures, exact values, or statistical significance metrics.
Cited by
- supports High doses of supplemental melatonin suppress the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and can delay puberty in animal studies.