title: Melatonin reference limits at 3:00 AM and 8:00 AM in healthy adults.
abstract: We determined melatonin reference limits in blood serum of 129 healthy volunteers, aged 21 to 70 years, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (IBL ELISA kit, Hamburg, Germany). At 3:00 AM, in almost full dark, the reference limits were found to be 18.3-134 pg/ml in males, 19.0-197 pg/ml in females and 18.5-180 pg/ml in the whole group. At 8:00 AM, they were statistically lower (5.63-61.8, 3.30-93.2 and 3.83-80.4 pg/ml respectively) possibly due to the light.
authors.affiliation: Central Clinical Laboratory, St. George University Hospital, Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. terzieva2006@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Dora D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Terzieva
authors.forename: Nonka D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Mateva
authors.forename: Ljudmila G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Vladimirova-Kitova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D008550:Melatonin