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The Role of Melatonin in Prenatal Ontogenesis

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Abstract

The review summarizes current ideas on the role of melatonin in prenatal ontogenesis. We report the results of experimental and clinical studies that reveal the mechanisms of melatonin involvement in the formation and development of the mother-placenta-fetus functional system. A key role of maternal melatonin and its circadian rhythmicity in the implementation of the genetic program of fetal morphofunctional development is surveyed, as well as the mechanisms that protect this program from injury caused by oxidative stress and inflammation during pregnancy complications. Melatonin controls DNA methylation and histone modification and thus prevents changes in the expression of genes directly related to programming of offspring diseases. The presented material substantiates the prospects for the use of melatonin in clinical obstetrics to prevent and treat perinatal fetal pathology.

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  1. D.O. Ott Research Institute of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductology, St. Petersburg, Russia

    I. I. Evsyukova

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Translated by A. Polyanovsky

The original online version of this article was revised: the issue date is not January 2020, but January 2021

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Evsyukova, I.I. The Role of Melatonin in Prenatal Ontogenesis. J Evol Biochem Phys 57, 33–45 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093021010038

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