title: Melatonin concentrations in aqueous humor of glaucoma patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether glaucoma patients exhibit an abnormal melatonin concentration in aqueous humor.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-controlled study, laboratory investigation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Aqueous humor and plasma samples of 28 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and 31 nonglaucoma control patients were collected during surgery, and additional plasma samples were taken the night preceding surgery. Melatonin concentrations were determined using direct radioimmunoassay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study shows detectable concentrations of melatonin in the aqueous humor of healthy humans (45% of subjects) and of glaucoma patients (36% of subjects) sampled in the morning, with similar levels of aqueous humor melatonin concentrations in both groups (6.4 +/- 9.3 standard deviation (SD) pg/ml and 3.6 +/- 1.9 pg/ml, respectively). We find no significant association between the severity of glaucoma and melatonin levels in aqueous humor or in plasma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Moderate and severe glaucoma does not appear to be associated with abnormal melatonin concentrations in aqueous humor, at least during the morning sampling period assayed in this study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Edouard Herriot Hospital, Lyon, France. chiquet@lyon.inserm.fr
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chiquet
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Claustrat
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thuret
authors.forename: Jocelyne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brun
authors.forename: Howard M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Denis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001082:Aqueous Humor / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D008550:Melatonin