ArticlePloS one2012
Maternal melatonin programs the daily pattern of energy metabolism in adult offspring.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 107 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sleep During Pregnancy and Offspring Outcomes From Infancy to Childhood: A Systematic Review.Biopsychosocial science and medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Review
- Melatonin as a Redox Modulator in Developmental Programming: Implications for Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Risk.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Endocrinology in maternal-fetal synchronization and developmental origins of susceptibility to metabolic diseases.Endocrine journal · 2026Review
- Exploring melatonin's multifaceted role in female reproductive health: From follicular development to lactation and its therapeutic potential in obstetric syndromes.Journal of advanced research · 2025Review
- Identifying insulin-responsive circRNAs in chicken pectoralis.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- In vivo techniques for assessment of insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.The Journal of endocrinology · 2024Review
- Nutritional Approaches Targeting Gut Microbiota in Oxidative-Stress-Associated Metabolic Syndrome: Focus on Early Life Programming.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Melatonin Use during Pregnancy and Lactation Complicated by Oxidative Stress: Focus on Offspring's Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health in Animal Models.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Design, synthesis, molecular docking and DFT studies on novel melatonin and isatin based azole derivatives.RSC advances · 2023Article
- Absence of melatonin during development impairs craniofacial and dental onset in rats.Clinical oral investigations · 2023Article
- Metabolic Syndrome Programming and Reprogramming: Mechanistic Aspects of Oxidative Stress.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Maternal Supplementation of Probiotics, Prebiotics or Postbiotics to Prevent Offspring Metabolic Syndrome: The Gap between Preclinical Results and Clinical Translation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Maternal melatonin treatment rescues endocrine, inflammatory, and transcriptional deregulation in the adult rat female offspring from gestational chronodisruption.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Early-Life Origins of Metabolic Syndrome: Mechanisms and Preventive Aspects.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Maternal Melatonin Deficiency Leads to Endocrine Pathologies in Children in Early Ontogenesis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Maternal Chronodisruption Throughout Pregnancy Impairs Glucose Homeostasis and Adipose Tissue Physiology in the Male Rat Offspring.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Article
- The regulatory role of melatonin in skeletal muscle.Journal of muscle research and cell motility · 2020Review
- Light and Circadian Signaling Pathway in Pregnancy: Programming of Adult Health and Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Getting an Early Start in Understanding Perinatal Asphyxia Impact on the Cardiovascular System.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundShift work was recently described as a factor that increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. In addition, rats born to mothers subjected to a phase shift throughout pregnancy are glucose intolerant. However, the mechanism by which a phase shift transmits metabolic information to the offspring has not been determined. Among several endocrine secretions, phase shifts in the light/dark cycle were described as altering the circadian profile of melatonin production by the pineal gland. The present study addresses the importance of maternal melatonin for the metabolic programming of the offspring. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsFemale Wistar rats were submitted to SHAM surgery or pinealectomy (PINX). The PINX rats were divided into two groups and received either melatonin (PM) or vehicle. The SHAM, the PINX vehicle and the PM females were housed with male Wistar rats. Rats were allowed to mate and after weaning, the male and female offspring were subjected to a glucose tolerance test (GTT), a pyruvate tolerance test (PTT) and an insulin tolerance test (ITT). Pancreatic islets were isolated for insulin secretion, and insulin signaling was assessed in the liver and in the skeletal muscle by western blots. We found that male and female rats born to PINX mothers display glucose intolerance at the end of the light phase of the light/dark cycle, but not at the beginning. We further demonstrate that impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and hepatic insulin resistance are mechanisms that may contribute to glucose intolerance in the offspring of PINX mothers. The metabolic programming described here occurs due to an absence of maternal melatonin because the offspring born to PINX mothers treated with melatonin were not glucose intolerant. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present results support the novel concept that maternal melatonin is responsible for the programming of the daily pattern of energy metabolism in their offspring.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.