PURPOSE The pineal gland shares a common neuroectoderm origin with the retina, and like the retina, regulates circadian rhythms through melatonin secretion. Recent expressed tag sequence (EST) analysis showed that several gene mutations, including RS1, which cause retinal degeneration, are also expressed in the pineal gland. Mutations in RS1 result in structural delamination of the neural retin...

The pineal gland transduces photoperiodic changes to the neuroendocrine system by rhythmic secretion of melatonin. We recently provided new evidence that the pineal gland is a major neurosteroidogenic organ and actively produces a variety of neurosteroids de novo from cholesterol in birds. Notably, allopregnanolone is a major pineal neurosteroid that is far more actively produced in the pineal ...

Melatonin, as an endogenous hormone produced mainly in the pineal gland in a clear circadian fashion, has diverse physiological functions, such as the control of circadian rhythms, sleep regulation, antioxidant, etc. Recently, accumulating researches about melatonin and pain have been reported. In this review, comparison and summary about analgesic/proalgesic effect of melatonin in inflammatory...

The light and electron microscopic features of pigmented cells in the adult dog pineal gland have been described. The presence of pigmented cells was a constant characteristic of the dog pineal gland, though wide variations in the amount of pigment could be found among different animals. Conversely, the localisation of pigmented cells was very constant on the basal surface of the proximal regio...

Calcification of the pineal gland is shown to be closely related to defective sense of direction. In a tricentre prospective study of 750 patients lateral skull radiographs showed that 394 had calcified pineal glands. Sense of direction was assessed by subjective questioning and objective testing and the results noted on a scale of0-10 (where 10 equals perfect sense ofdirection). The average sc...

Melatonin receptor gene expression as well as melatonin synthesis and secretion activities were examined in the pineal gland of the grass puffer, which exhibits unique lunar/tidal cycle-synchronized mass spawing: spawning occurs before high tide on the day of spring tide during spawing season. Melatonin synthesizing activity was assessed by the abundance of arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase 2 ...

s Background Intracranial calcifications are veritable radiological pointer to pathologies. Therefore there is need to differentiate physiological and pathological calcifications. Objective Todetemine the incidence of physiological intracranial calcifications and relationship to age and sex. Materials And Methods A cross sectional descriptive study of the computed tomograms (CT) of the brain wa...

PURPOSE Pinealitis accompanying uveitis is well established in laboratory models of experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis. In naturally occurring uveitis, pinealitis has been demonstrated in the pineal gland from a mare with active uveitis and is suspected in some human uveitides. We have evaluated pineal glands from horses with various stages of uveitis for signs of immunopathology accompanyin...

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the enigmatic pineal gland in response to darkness, hence the name hormone of darkness. It has generated a great deal of interest as a therapeutic modality for various diseases particularly sleep disorders. This pleiotropic molecule has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticoagulopathic properties in addition to its endothelial protective effects. In this ar...