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The International Journal of... May 2020The pineal gland, an endocrine organ of the posterior cranial fossa famously involved in sleep and wakefulness, has continually been a topic of scientific advancement... (Review)
Review
The pineal gland, an endocrine organ of the posterior cranial fossa famously involved in sleep and wakefulness, has continually been a topic of scientific advancement and curiosity. We review present an up-to-date review including the anatomy, embryology, and physiology of the pineal gland and its ability to secrete hormones including melatonin, pathophysiology of pineal gland tumors, cysts, and calcifications, their clinical presentation including their association with parkinsonism and precocious puberty, and various treatment approaches. Exploring the biochemistry of melatonin, various calcification morphologies, and pineal tumors may uncover a wider role and the exhaustive case study consolidation allows clinicians to carefully review the literature and aid their treatment approaches. It is imperative that clinicians and diagnosticians are able to distinguish manifestations of an overlooked gland.
Topics: Calcinosis; Humans; Melatonin; Pineal Gland; Pinealoma; Puberty, Precocious
PubMed: 31714865
DOI: 10.1080/00207454.2019.1692838 -
Current Topics in Developmental Biology 2013The pineal gland is a small neuroendocrine organ whose main and most conserved function is the nighttime secretion of melatonin. In lower vertebrates, the pineal gland... (Review)
Review
The pineal gland is a small neuroendocrine organ whose main and most conserved function is the nighttime secretion of melatonin. In lower vertebrates, the pineal gland is directly photosensitive. In contrast, in higher vertebrates, the direct photosensitivity of the pineal gland had been lost. Rather, the action of this gland as a relay between environmental light conditions and body functions involves reception of light information by the retina. In parallel to this sensory regression, the pineal gland (and its accessory organs) appears to have lost several functions in relation to light and temperature, which are important in lower vertebrate species. In humans, the functions of the pineal gland overlap with the functions of melatonin. They are extremely widespread and include general effects both on cell protection and on more precise functions, such as sleep and immunity. Recently, the role of melatonin has received a considerable amount of attention due to increased cancer risk in shift workers and the discovery that patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, autism, or depression exhibit abnormal melatonin rhythms.
Topics: Animals; Circadian Rhythm; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Humans; Melatonin; Models, Biological; Pineal Gland; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 24290350
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-416021-7.00005-5 -
The Journals of Gerontology. Series A,... Aug 2023In this work, we report preliminary results about the involution of the human pineal gland involution. The detailed analysis of pineal structure was done on autopsy...
In this work, we report preliminary results about the involution of the human pineal gland involution. The detailed analysis of pineal structure was done on autopsy material of 77 persons in age 27-96 using x-ray phase-contrast tomography, histology, and immunohistochemistry. Our study suggests that the pineal gland alteration in older adults may be more profound than has been reported to date. We identified and described a new form of pineal gland involution that eventually led to the total degradation of the pineal gland. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report on the complete replacement of pineal gland parenchyma with connective tissue in older adults.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Pineal Gland; Cysts; Immunohistochemistry; Autopsy
PubMed: 36966358
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glad091 -
Physiological Research Dec 2019The pineal gland (glandula pinealis) is neuroendocrine gland located at the epithalamus of the brain secreting melatonin. The aim of this study was to explore effects of...
The pineal gland (glandula pinealis) is neuroendocrine gland located at the epithalamus of the brain secreting melatonin. The aim of this study was to explore effects of prenatal hypoxia in rats at the age of 33 weeks on the occurrence of pineal gland calcification. Distribution and chemical composition of calcerous material by light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy was investigated. Melatonin concentrations in blood plasma by direct radioimmunoassay were measured. Rats were exposed to prenatal hypoxia for 12 h at day 20 of development and second group to prenatal hypoxia for 2x8 h at days 19 and 20 of development. Vacuoles of intracellular edema in the pineal samples after 12 h hypoxia were found. Their size ranges up to 30 µm. Some of them were filled with the flocculent and fibrous material. Samples of pineal glands after 2 x 8 h hypoxia revealed the pericellular edema of pinealocytes. The amount of calcium rich particles in 2 x 8 h hypoxia group was lower than in 12 h hypoxia group. Plasma melatonin levels did not differ between control and both hypoxia groups. We concluded that calcification is a process induced by osteoblasts and osteocytes with melatonin as a promotor and it is favored under hypoxic conditions.
Topics: Animals; Calcinosis; Hypoxia; Male; Pineal Gland; Rats, Wistar
PubMed: 32118471
DOI: 10.33549/physiolres.934378 -
Child's Nervous System : ChNS :... Apr 2016
Topics: History, 17th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; History, Ancient; Humans; Medical Illustration; Pineal Gland
PubMed: 25758643
DOI: 10.1007/s00381-015-2636-3 -
Journal of the American Medical Women's... Mar 1968
Review
Topics: Animals; Biological Clocks; Cattle; Chemoreceptor Cells; Humans; Light; Mast Cells; Melatonin; Neoplasm Metastasis; Pineal Gland; Pinealoma; Synaptic Transmission
PubMed: 4297601
DOI: No ID Found -
European Spine Journal : Official... Jan 2023Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is believed to be caused by genetic, neurological, osseous growth anomalies, histological variables including muscle fiber...
PURPOSE
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is believed to be caused by genetic, neurological, osseous growth anomalies, histological variables including muscle fiber percentage and core structure changes, metabolic and hormonal dysfunction, vestibular dysfunction, and platelet microarchitecture. The objective of this study was to contribute to the determination of the cause of AIS by analyzing the changes in pineal gland volume in AIS cases.
METHODS
Study (AIS) and control group were each comprised of 26 patients who met the inclusion requirements. Scoliosis radiograph and MRI of the pineal glands were used for radiological examinations. The distribution of age, gender, Risser grading for skeletal radiological development, and sexual maturation according to Tanner categorization were uniform and statistically insignificant between groups.
RESULTS
When the pineal gland volumes of the cases were evaluated according to age, the AIS group was found to have significantly reduced pineal gland volumes in all age groups. The pineal gland volume was found to be 38.1% lower in the AIS group compared to the control group (p˂0.001). In the AIS group, patients aged 13 years had the lowest pineal gland volume (77.2 ± 13.86 mm), while patients aged 15 years had the highest volume (97.9 ± 16.47 mm).
CONCLUSION
Changes in pineal gland volume support the role of the pineal gland in the etiopathogenesis of AIS.
Topics: Adolescent; Humans; Scoliosis; Pineal Gland; Kyphosis; Magnetic Resonance Imaging
PubMed: 36374335
DOI: 10.1007/s00586-022-07452-z -
Annual Review of Pharmacology and... 1976Only recently have a sufficient number of publications been available to legitimize a review of the pharmacology of the mammalian pineal organ. Two decades ago Kitay &... (Review)
Review
Only recently have a sufficient number of publications been available to legitimize a review of the pharmacology of the mammalian pineal organ. Two decades ago Kitay & Altschule reviewed the world literature on pineal physiology, which comprises several thousand papers, and concluded only that removal of the pineal, or administration of pineal extracts, somehow affected pigmentation in lower vertebrates and gonadal function in mammals (1). As the studies described below demonstrate, much more information is now available concerning the pharmacology of the pineal. This review subdivides present knowledge into two areas: (a) the effects on mammals of administering pineal extracts or pure synthetic or natural pineal constituents and (b) the effects of drugs and hormones on the pineal itself. As might be anticipated, the bulk of studies cited in both categories deals with the pineal hormone, melatonin. Melatonin was first isolated from bovine pineal extracts in 1958 by Lerner and his colleagues (2), who used as a marker the capacity of the hormone to aggregate the pigment granules in amphibian melanophores around the cell nucleus. Five years later, Wurtman et al (3) showed that melatonin affected a physiological function in mammals, that is, the size and secretion of the ovary, and subsequent studies have demonstrated that melatonin administration also modifies the growth, composition, and functional activities of numerous other organs. Only recently an assay was developed that allows quantification of the melatonin in human urine (4). The concentrations of the compound vary with a characteristic daily rhythm, peaking at night. The pineal's apparent role as the sole or major source of melatonin, the presence of melatonin in urine, and the demonstration that physiologic effects follow a pinealectomy or the administration of melatomin seem to justify labeling it a pineal hormone. Melatonin synthesis and pineal biosynthetic activity are generally controlled by the sympathetic nerves of this organ (5,6). Therefore, it should not be surprising that drugs known to modify the synthesis, release, or metabolism of norepinephrine in peripheral organs also affect pineal function. Melatonin is itself a derivative of another biogenic amine, serotonin, whose metabolism and actions are also affected by numerous drugs. Indeed, the pineal has often provided an apt tool for examining monoaminergic mechanisms for pharmacologists not specifically concerned with its particular functional properties.
Topics: Adenylyl Cyclases; Animals; Brain; Cricetinae; Cyclic AMP; Enzymes; Gonadotropins; Gonads; Hormones; Indoles; Melatonin; Mice; Phospholipids; Pineal Gland; Pituitary Gland; Rabbits; Serotonin; Sympathetic Nervous System; Tissue Extracts
PubMed: 180879
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.pa.16.040176.000341 -
Anticancer Research 1996The pineal gland is considered today as one of the main organs involved in the transduction process which converts environmental light information into an endocrine... (Review)
Review
The pineal gland is considered today as one of the main organs involved in the transduction process which converts environmental light information into an endocrine response. The gland and its hormone melatonin seem to be important chronoimmunomodulators, and a reduction of the latter was associated with experimental and clinical immunodeficiencies and over the control of the neoplastic process. Moreover, melatonin can be an oncostatic or oncostimulating hormone, depending on the timing of its administration. The melatonin circadian rhythm is altered in cancer patients, and this rhythm could be modified as a consequence of certain therapies. Also Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) can affect the pineal function, perhaps working as synchronizers or, as this paper proposes, also through action of the "antenna effect" suggested for artificial human models, with a major energetic transfer over the cephalic area. The pineal could play an important role in the appearance and development of some forms of apparently EMF-related cancers.
Topics: Animals; Circadian Rhythm; Electromagnetic Fields; Female; Humans; Male; Melatonin; Models, Biological; Neoplasms; Pineal Gland
PubMed: 8712739
DOI: No ID Found -
Ugeskrift For Laeger Nov 2014The pineal gland (CP) is located centrally in the brain and produces melatonin. Cysts and concrements are frequent findings on MRI but their significance is still... (Review)
Review
The pineal gland (CP) is located centrally in the brain and produces melatonin. Cysts and concrements are frequent findings on MRI but their significance is still unclear. The visualization of CP is difficult due to its location and surrounding structures and so far, no standardized method exists. New studies suggest a correlation between CP-morphology and melatonin secretion as well as a connection between melatonin, disturbed circadian rhythm, and the development of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, underlining the need for a standardized approach to CP on MRI.
Topics: Circadian Rhythm; Cysts; Humans; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Melatonin; Pineal Gland
PubMed: 25394927
DOI: No ID Found