Melatonin has shown the potential to inhibit growth of different tumors, both in vitro and in vivo. There is clear evidence that the administration of melatonin alone or in combination with chemo and radiotherapy in cancer patients with advanced solid tumors has been associated with improved outcomes of tumor regression and survival. Moreover, chemotherapy has been shown to be better tolerated in patients treated with melatonin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMelatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, MLT), the main hormone produced by the pineal gland, not only regulates circadian rhythm, but also has antioxidant, anti-ageing and immunomodulatory properties. MLT plays an important role in blood composition, medullary dynamics, platelet genesis, vessel endothelia, and in platelet aggregation, leukocyte formula regulation and hemoglobin synthesis. Its significant atoxic, apoptotic, oncostatic, angiogenetic, differentiating and antiproliferative properties against all solid and liquid tumors have also been documented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOn the centennial of the birth of Luigi Di Bella, the desire to memorialise, at least in part, his thoughts has prompted us to write this tribute, in the hope that one day his dreams may come true. Throughout his research for a treatment of cancer, he deemed it necessary to employ a complex array of substances that, by acting centripetally on neoplastic cells, could in turn be capable of affecting, either simultaneously or sequentially, the myriad of biological reactions supporting their lives. Hence, not a substance but a method (Di Bella Method, DBM).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNumerous studies of melatonin, by now widely acknowledged as a circadian rhythm-affecting neurohormone, also describe its anti-oxidant, anti-cytotoxic or immune-modulating activity. While emphasizing the multifunctional aspect of melatonin action, this review presents the results of our thirty years of research, which point to the following conclusions: melatonin is capable of promoting platelet production by megakaryocytes, of acting on the latter's ion channels by way of the outward currents, and of performing a physiological anti-aggregation function thus lengthening platelet life span. Melatonin can be transported everywhere by platelets and, thanks to its lipophilicity, can cross cellular membranes easily, thus regulating blood-tissue exchanges and ensuring an improved haematic crisis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMed Sci Monit
December 2002
Background: This study was carried out to evaluate the influence of melatonin concentration on rat bone marrow megakaryocyte outward K+ current and its implications with regard to platelet production. It is the Authors' view that the greatly extended development of megakaryocyte membrane, together with its ion channels, makes the choice of this topic particularly pertinent.
Material/methods: Megakaryocytes from fresh Wistar rat bone marrow were clampaged with patch-clamp technique and the examination of membrane outward current was performed when melatonin dissolved in external or internal standard solution was used.