Promoting adjustment of the sleep-wake cycle by chronobiotics.
Chronobiotics are substances that adjust the timing of internal biological rhythms. Many classes of drugs have been claimed to possess such properties and arouse growing interest as the circumstances for their use in sleep disturbances caused by circadian rhythms alterations (delayed or advanced sleep-phase syndromes, non-24-h sleep-wake disorders, jet lag, shift work sleep disorders and so on) have become progressively more frequent. Amongst the substances potentially presenting chronobiotic properties, a consensus seems to be reached on the possible use of melatonin or its agonists to shift the phase of the human circadian clock, but optimizing the dose, formulation and especially the time of administration require further studies.
Touitou
Yvan
Y
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine Pierre and Marie Curie-Pitie Salpetriere, and INSERM U 713 Douleurs et stress, 91 Boulevard de l'Hopital, 75013, Paris, France. touitou@ccr.jussieu.fr
Bogdan
André
A
D002909:Chronobiology Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D019454:Chronotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008550:Melatonin / Q000819:agonists / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D020178:Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm / Q000628:therapy; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D008550:Melatonin