Open AccessMelatonin and ulcerative colitis: Evidence, biological mechanisms, and future research
Author(s) -
Terry Paul D.,
Villinger Francois,
Bubenik George A.,
Sitaraman Shanti V.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
inflammatory bowel diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.932
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1536-4844
pISSN - 1078-0998
DOI - 10.1002/ibd.20527
Subject(s) - melatonin , ulcerative colitis , gastrointestinal tract , disease , inflammatory bowel disease , colitis , medicine , motility , bioinformatics , immunology , gastroenterology , biology , genetics
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)