Melatonin and ulcerative colitis: Evidence, biological mechanisms, and future resea

[Guest guest]

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120775674/abstract?CRETRY=1 & SRETRY=0

Review Article

Melatonin and ulcerative colitis: Evidence, biological mechanisms, and future research

D. Terry, PhD, MPH 1 *, Francois Villinger, DVM, PhD 2, A. Bubenik, MD 3, Shanti V. Sitaraman, MD, PhD 4

1Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia2Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine & Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, Georgia3Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada4Division of Digestive Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia

email: D. Terry (pdterry@...)

*Correspondence to D. Terry, Department of Epidemiology, Emory University School of Public Health, 1518 Clifton Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 30322

Keywords

melatonin • inflammatory bowel diseases • ulcerative colitis • clinical trials • animal models

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease that afflicts up to 1 million people in the US. Current treatments for UC are mostly nonspecific, not always effective, and often accompanied by serious side effects. Therefore, there is considerable interest in finding alternative and more tolerable treatments for this disease. Physiologic data suggest that melatonin is an important regulator of both inflammation and motility in the gastrointestinal tract, and data from in vitro studies, animal experiments, and limited studies in humans suggest that supplemental melatonin may have an ameliorative effect on colitis. In this review we summarize the evidence regarding melatonin as a possible therapeutic agent in UC and discuss possible biological mechanisms and directions for future research.

(Inflamm Bowel Dis 2008)

Received: 2 May 2008; Accepted: 9 May 2008

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)10.1002/ibd.20527