Low urinary 6‐sulphatoxymelatonin levels in patients with coronary artery disease

Abstract

A decrease in nocturnal serum melatonin levels was reported in patients with clinically uncharacterized coronary artery disease. To assess whether there was a correlation between melatonin production and disease stage, we measured the nocturnal urinary excretion of 6-sulphatoxymelatonin (an index of blood melatonin concentration) in patients with chronic stable or unstable coronary disease and in a group of age-matched controls. Three groups of individuals were studied: a) 24 healthy subjects (mean age: 63 +/- 13 yr); b) 32 patients with chronic, stable, coronary disease (62 +/- 11 yr); and c) 27 patients with unstable angina (62 +/- 12 yr). For 6-sulphatoxymelatonin measurement, urine was collected from 18:00 to 06:00 hr, within 48 hr of hospitalization in the case of unstable angina. 6-Sulphatoxymelatonin was measured by a specific radioimmunoassay. Urinary 6-sulphatoxymelatonin excretion was significantly lower in unstable angina patients than in healthy subjects or in patients with stable angina. 6-Sulphatoxymelatonin correlated negatively with age in healthy subjects, but not in coronary patients. 6-Sulphatoxymelatonin excretion in patients treated with beta-adrenoceptor blockers did not differ significantly from coronary patients not receiving beta-blockers. The results indicate that patients with coronary disease have a low melatonin production rate, with greater decreases in those with higher risk of cardiac infarction and/or death.

Pineal gland calcification, lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration and abdominal aorta calcifying atherosclerosis correlate in low back pain subjects: A cross-sectional observational CT study

“…In a study with long-term follow-up, Kurunlahti et al [6] pointed out that there was an association between disc diseases and fatal ischemic heart disease. Furthermore, it has been suggested that patients with ischemic coronary disease have a low MEL production rate, with greater decreases in those with higher risk of cardiac infarction and/or death [22]. Now, it is generally accepted that the existence of advanced aortic atherosclerosis, presenting as calcific deposits in the posterior wall of the aorta, increases a person's risk for development of disc degeneration and is associated with the occurrence of back pain.…”

Melatonin and the Metabolic Syndrome: Physiopathologic and Therapeutical Implications

“…Nocturnal secretion of melatonin was lower in patients with coronary artery disease [47,48,49,50]. Nighttime melatonin supplementation reduced nocturnal blood pressure in otherwise untreated hypertensive men [51], nondipping women [52], patients with nocturnal hypertension [53] and in adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus [54].…”

Melatonin for nondippers with coronary artery disease: assessment of blood pressure profile and heart rate variability

“…It has also been pointed out that patients with ischemic heart disease, regardless of their age, have deficits of this hormone. [2][3][4] In the observation of patients with arterial hypertension, it was shown that the group with impaired circadian rhythms of arterial blood pressure (BP), nondippers, had reduced melatonin synthesis. 5,6 A proper circadian BP rhythm is connected with a lower risk of left ventricular hypertrophy or of episodes of myocardial ischemia, both silent and symptomatic, in comparison with nondippers.…”