ArticleExperimental and therapeutic medicine2016
Pain control by melatonin: Physiological and pharmacological effects.
Article in Experimental and therapeutic medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- The Adjunctive Effect of Quercetin on Postoperative Pain Management Following Cesarean Section: A Randomized Controlled Study.Drug design, development and therapy · 2025Trial
- Melatonin treatment has consistent but transient beneficial effects on sleep measures and pain in patients with severe chronic pain: the DREAM-CP randomised controlled trial.British journal of anaesthesia · 2024Trial
- The Effect of Preoperative Oral Melatonin on Postoperative Pain after Lumbar Disc Surgery: A Double-Blinded Randomized Clinical Trial.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2022Trial
- Adjuvant use of melatonin for pain management in dysmenorrhea - a randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Trial
- Adjuvant use of melatonin for relieving symptoms of painful diabetic neuropathy: results of a randomized, double-blinded, controlled trial.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2021Trial
- The interplay of circadian rhythms and cancer pain: a narrative review.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2026Review
- Disrupted circadian rhythms and opioid-mediated adverse effects: Bidirectional relationship and putative mechanisms.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2025Review
- The impact of postoperative pain interventions on circadian rhythm disruptions: mechanisms and clinical implications.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Proteomic profiling of serum in cats with naturally occurring degenerative joint disease and co-morbid conditions.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Widespread pain syndrome in long COVID-19: melatonin as an adjuvant treatment.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- A Comprehensive Review on the Role of Melatonin's Anesthetic Applications in Pediatric Care.Cureus · 2024Review
- Involvement of Oxidative Stress and Nutrition in the Anatomy of Orofacial Pain.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Melatonin as a Coadjuvant in the Treatment of Patients with Fibromyalgia.Biomedicines · 2023Review
- The Correlation of Sleep Disturbance and Location of Glioma Tumors: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Development and validation of a nomogram for postoperative sleep disturbance in adults: a prospective survey of 640 patients undergoing spinal surgery.BMC anesthesiology · 2023Observational
- Modulation of Melatonin in Pain Behaviors Associated with Oxidative Stress and Neuroinflammation Responses in an Animal Model of Central Post-Stroke Pain.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Exogenous melatonin alleviates neuropathic pain-induced affective disorders by suppressing NF-κB/ NLRP3 pathway and apoptosis.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Potential benefits of melatonin to control pain in ventilated preterm newborns: An updated review.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2022Review
- Circadian rhythms and pain.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pain and anxiety are the most common neurological responses to many harmful or noxious stimuli and their management clinically is often challenging. Many of the frequently used morphine-based drugs, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs and acetaminophen, while efficient for treating pain, lead to patients suffering from several unwanted side effects. Melatonin, produced from the pineal body is a hormone of darkness, is involved in the control of circadian rhythms, and exerts a number of pharmacological effects. Melatonin mediates its actions through MT1/MT2 melatonin receptors on the cell membrane and also through RZR/ROR nuclear orphan receptors. Chronic pain syndromes are often associated with the desynchronization of circadian and biological rhythms, which also cause disturbances in the sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin-mediated analgesic effects seem to involve β-endorphins, GABA receptor, opioid receptors and the nitric oxide-arginine pathway. The effectiveness of melatonin as an analgesic and anxiolytic agent has been demonstrated in various animal models of pain and this led to the use of melatonin clinically in different pathological conditions and also in patients undergoing surgery. Melatonin was found to be effective in many of these cases as an anxiolytic and analgesic agent, indicating its clinical application.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.