Review|Volume 13, Issue 13|pp 17930—17947

Research progress of melatonin (MT) in improving ovarian function: a review of the current status

Yi Ming Guo^1,², Tie Cheng Sun³, Hui Ping Wang^1,², Xi Chen⁴

¹Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China
²National Engineering Research Center of Reproductive Health, National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing 100081, China
³Reproductive Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing 102206, China
⁴Reproductive Medical Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University People’s Hospital, Beijing 100044, China

* Equal contribution

Received: March 13, 2021Accepted: June 14, 2021Published: July 6, 2021

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203231

Copyright: © 2021 Guo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Melatonin (MT) is an endogenous hormone mainly synthesized by pineal cells, which has strong endogenous effects of eliminating free radicals and resisting oxidative damages. Melatonin (MT) can not only regulate the body’s seasonal and circadian rhythms; but also delay ovarian senescence, regulate ovarian biological rhythm, promote follicles formation, and improve oocyte quality and fertilization rate. This review aimd to provide evidence concerning the synthesis and distribution, ovarian function, and role of MT in development of follicles and oocytes. Moreover, the role of MT as antioxidative, participating in biological rhythm regulation, was also reviewed. Furthermore, the effects of MT on various ovarian related diseases were analyzed, particularly for the ovarian aging and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).