Immunoassay of melatonin with enzyme-labeled antibodies

Melatonin, an ubiquitous metabolic regulator: functions, mechanisms and effects on circadian disruption and degenerative diseases

The last four decades, we assist to an increasing scientific interest on melatonin, a circadian hormone, a metabolic regulator which influences not only plants' metabolism and their defense against pathogens but mostly the animals and humans' metabolic pathways, their response to circadian disruption, stress and burnout syndrome. In humans, as a hormonal regulator, produced in the pineal grand as well in mitochondria, melatonin is involved in different, complex intracellular signaling pathways, with antioxidant and immune stimulating effects, proving to act as a circadian synchronizer, as a preventive and therapeutic agent in many degenerative diseases, and especially in hormone-dependent cancers. Preclinical or clinical studies showed recently the mechanisms involved in regulating the cellular activity, its role in aging and circadian disturbances and impact on degenerative diseases. Melatonin proved to have an anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic and powerful antioxidant effect by subtle mechanisms in mitochondrial metabolic pathways. This overview includes recent and relevant literature data related to the impact of endogenous and exogeneous melatonin on the prevention of cancer progression and treatment of various degenerative diseases. Metabolomics, an emerging new omics' technology, based on high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry is presented as an encouraging technique to fingerprint and realize a precise evaluation and monitoring of the turnover of melatonin and its metabolites in different pathological circumstances.

Melatonin-Measurement Methods and the Factors Modifying the Results. A Systematic Review of the Literature

Melatonin plays an important role in regulating the sleep-wake cycle and adaptation to environmental changes. Concentration measurements in bioliquids such as serum/plasma, saliva and urine are widely used to assess peripheral rhythm. The aim of the study was to compare methods and conditions of determinations carried out with the identification of factors potentially affecting the measurements obtained. We have identified a group of modifiable and unmodifiable factors that facilitate data interpretation. Knowledge of modifiers allows you to carefully plan the test protocol and then compare the results. There is no one universal sampling standard, because the choice of method and biofluid depends on the purpose of the study and the research group.

Measurement of melatonin in body fluids: standards, protocols and procedures

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The circadian rhythm of melatonin in saliva or plasma, or of the melatonin metabolite 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (a6MTs) in urine, is a defining feature of suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) function, the body's endogenous oscillatory pacemaker. The primary objective of this review is to ascertain the clinical benefits and limitations of current methodologies employed for detection and quantification of melatonin in biological fluids and tissues.

DATA IDENTIFICATION

A search of the English-language literature (Medline) and a systematic review of published articles were carried out.

STUDY SELECTION

Articles that specified both the methodology for quantifying melatonin and indicated the clinical purpose were chosen for inclusion in the review.

DATA EXTRACTION

The authors critically evaluated the methodological issues associated with various tools and techniques (e.g. standards, protocols, and procedures).

RESULTS OF DATA SYNTHESIS

Melatonin measurements are useful for evaluating problems related to the onset or offset of sleep and for assessing phase delays or advances of rhythms in entrained individuals. They have also become an important tool for psychiatric diagnosis, their use being recommended for phase typing in patients suffering from sleep and mood disorders. Additionally, there has been a continuous interest in the use of melatonin as a marker for neoplasms of the pineal region. Melatonin decreases such as found with aging are or post pinealectomy can cause alterations in the sleep/wake cycle. The development of sensitive and selective methods for the precise detection of melatonin in tissues and fluids has increasingly been shown to have direct relevance for clinical decision making.

CONCLUSIONS

Due to melatonin's low concentration, as well as the coexistence of numerous other compounds in the blood, the routine determination of melatonin has been an analytical challenge. The available evidence indicates however that these challenges can be overcome and consequently that evaluation of melatonin's presence and activity can be an accessible and useful tool for clinical diagnosis.

Rainbow trout eyed-stage embryos demonstrate melatonin rhythms under light-dark conditions as measured by a newly developed time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay

Melatonin contents in eyed-stage embryos of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were measured by a newly developed, highly sensitive, and nonisotopic immunoassay method: time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TR-FIA). The melatonin-bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate was immobilized by physical adsorption to the wells of microtiter plates. A competitive assay using two antibodies was performed among melatonin-BSA in the solid phase, samples, melatonin antibodies, and europium-labeled secondary antibodies. The system showed a sensitivity of 0.6 pg/well. The embryos showed clear melatonin rhythms under a 12L:12D photo cycle. Although the melatonin was detected in the egg yolk, the quantities were the same in both the light and dark phases. These results indicate that the melatonin secretion system has already functioned at least from the eyed-stage embryo in rainbow trout.

Determination of melatonin in biological fluids in the presence of the melatonin agonist S 20098: comparison of immunological techniques and GC-MS methods

Immunoassays were investigated for the determination of melatonin in biological samples in the presence of a naphthalenic structural analogue S 20098, which is currently under development as a melatonin agonist. The lack of specificity of commercially available antibodies in the presence of closely related molecules led us to develop an LC-RIA procedure with a quantification limit set at 15 pg/ml(-1). Because this technique was not sensitive enough and difficult to use on a routine basis, a more sensitive GC-MS technique was developed. This method involved automated solid-phase extraction (plasma) or liquid-liquid extraction (saliva), derivatization of the indolic moiety and GC separation with an automated switching device before MS detection. The method was validated over the range 1-100 pg/ml(-1), with a quantification limit set at 1 pg/ml(-1) in human plasma and saliva. Intra-assay and inter-assay precision and accuracy were within 16% for all concentrations investigated and each biological matrix. The stability of melatonin in plasma and saliva under various storage conditions was also determined. The specificity of the assay for the analysis of melatonin in the presence of S 20098 and its metabolises was demonstrated. The method was subsequently applied for the determination of endogenous melatonin concentrations in plasma and saliva samples from clinical studies performed with S 20098 to provide pharmacodynamic data.

Determination of melatonin in biological samples by capillary electrophoresis

The determination of melatonin (MLT) in physiological samples was investigated using capillary electrophoresis (CE). Mouse blood was collected in tubes containing EDTA, centrifuged at 1500 g for 20 min at 4 degrees C, and stored at -20 degrees C. Plasma samples were extracted with dichloroethane, centrifuged and the aqueous phase was discarded. Then the organic phase was evaporated to dryness. The residue was dissolved in deionized water and filtered with a microfilter (0.22 micron). Separations were carried out using a CE system equipped with a fused silica capillary [80 cm (effective length 52 cm) x 75 microns I.D.] and an ultraviolet-visible detector (200 nm), and programmed to provide 25 mM 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (pH 5.7). Injection was performed hydrostatically by elevating the sample by 10 cm at the cathodic side of the capillary. The calibration curve, reproducibility, recovery and limit of detection were examined, and validation of the method was performed. The result showed that MLT in blood could be easily determined with the new method.

An enzyme immunoassay for 6-sulphatoxy-melatonin in human urine

We describe a newly developed enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the determination of 6-sulphatoxy-melatonin (aMT6s) in human urine, using a aMT6s-bovine serum albumin-horseradish peroxidase (aMt6s-BSA-HRP) conjugate as the enzyme label. The assay incorporates a highly specific antibody raised in rabbits. The EIA has a sensitivity of 2 pg/well (40 pg/ml) with intraassay coefficients of variation of 2.3-6.1% in the range of the assay. The material with the highest level of cross-reactivity was N-acetyl serotonin sulphate, with a relative potency of 0.000078%. One hundred thirty-four urine samples from children and adults at different time points were assayed and the results compared with those from an established radioimmunoassay (RIA) and with a newly developed RIA using the same antibody as the EIA. The correlation coefficient, r, comparing the two RIA's was 0.9869, and the regression equation was log (kit) = 0.9340 log (new) + 0.1213. The correlation coefficient, r, comparing the EIA with the newly developed RIA, was 0.9686, and regression equation log (new) = 0.9674 log (EIA) + 0.0600. The EIA for the measurement of aMT6s in urine represents a new approach in the investigation of pineal function.

Melatonin: perspectives in laboratory medicine and clinical research

We are presently at a point in human pineal research where we have recognized through melatonin assay the presence of pineal dysfunction in a variety of disease categories. Melatonin may now be quickly and accurately quantified in a range of body fluids, and our well-developed knowledge of the basic biochemistry and neuroanatomical connections of the pineal enables us to see at least how abnormalities in melatonin secretion occur, if not why. The reported increases in melatonin secretion in early malignancy with a reduction in secretion during the neoplastic process is interesting, as is the great decline in the elevated melatonin level of oncological patients following institution of chemotherapy. The correlations between estrogen receptor status of breast cancer and melatonin level, and between neoplastic status of the prostate and melatonin secretion, points to interesting differential diagnostic utilities of melatonin analysis in these conditions. Furthermore, an etiological involvement of melatonin in neoplasia is suggested by experiments which have demonstrated the capacity of melatonin to induce mitotic arrest, and to increase the affinity of mammary carcinoma estrogen receptors for their substrate. These are important observations among many others of direct relevance to research and treatment in oncology, and warrant much further investigation. Melatonin assay may also prove useful in the prognostic monitoring of patients treated for melatonin-secreting pineal tumors, and in such cases may form a logical part of follow-up investigation in the screening for metastatic complication. In psychiatry research, melatonin analysis has functioned as a tool by which alterations in pineal function within specific psychiatric diagnoses have been demonstrated and assessed. Its uses in the assessment of the effects of antidepressant drugs on central beta-receptor function, as a tool in the investigation of light-induced alterations in pineal function in manic-depressive individuals, and as a tool in the investigation of the putative pineal-adrenocortical functional interaction have produced the fundamental building blocks of modern research into the pineal and psychiatry. The experimental clinical utility of melatonin assay is not localized to oncology and psychiatry, and significant alterations in melatonin secretion have been reported in several other disease categories. Indeed, the demonstration of markedly elevated melatonin secretion in patients with spina bifida occulta might suggest that assay of melatonin in amniotic fluid could be useful as an experimental adjunct in the prenatal diagnosis of this condition.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)