ABSTRACT
The developmental schedule of the melatonin rhythm-generating system has already been examined in rats, chicks, and hamsters. When the biorhythms are compared, the stage-II girl shows substantial increment in melatonin night level whereas the other, having advanced skeletal maturation, has melatonin rhythm comparable to normal stage-V girls. When the melatonin data were examined as the function of body weight, children with the syndrome had a clear melatonin rhythm when obese, but the pattern was not so clear after weight loss. In the exogenously obese children, a clear melatonin rhythm was observed throughout puberty, without any variation with pubertal stages. Melatonin biorhythm is present in three subjects and absent in the remaining three. In patients with primary breast cancer, the melatonin rhythm is significantly depressed in amplitude as well as mesor as compared to Non-breast-cancer group. The relationship between the pineal gland and tumor growth in experimental animals has been the subject of many papers during recent period.
