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Human puberty: Salivary melatonin profiles in constant conditions
Author(s) -
Crowley Stephanie J.,
Acebo Christine,
Carskadon Mary A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.20605
Subject(s) - melatonin , medicine , endocrinology , body mass index , area under the curve , physiology
This analysis examined the relative contributions of sex, age, body mass index (BMI), and puberty (Tanner) stage on salivary melatonin amplitude. Sixty‐nine children and adolescents (30 females; 9.6–17.8 years) were examined for Tanner stage. Serial salivary melatonin samples were collected in controlled conditions, from which these melatonin amplitude measures were derived: area under the curve (AUC) and maximum value (MAX). AUC declined with advancing Tanner stage. This melatonin decline was similar between boys and girls, but girls secreted more melatonin compared to boys. Tanner stage and sex explained AUC variability, but age and BMI did not; similar results emerged for MAX. These results indicate that puberty stage may either mediate the decline of melatonin, or the decrease in melatonin amplitude may be an indicator of pubertal progression. These findings also indicate that the melatonin decline during puberty is not entirely accounted for by body mass or by age. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 54:468–473, 2012.