Pineal volume and circadian melatonin profile in healthy volunteers: An interdisciplinary approach

To correlate pineal parenchyma volume (PP) to circadian melatonin profiles and to determine the 24-hour melatonin per volume of pineal tissue (MLPV). Furthermore, we compared melatonin profiles of cystic and solid glands.In 15 healthy male subjects (20-27 years) the PP was determined using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (trueFISP, isotropic voxel: 0.8 mm3). Melatonin plasma concentrations (MC) were determined every 2 hours for 24 hours.Mean PP was 125 ± 54 mm3. PP correlated linearly to maximum MC and to 24-hour melatonin (r = 0.61 and r = 0.64, P < 0.05) but not to minimum MC. The 24-hour melatonin was 653 ± 242.6 pg/mL, MLPV was 5.8 ± 2.3 pg/mL*ml-1. Nine pineal glands were solid and six were cystic. PP of solid glands showed higher linear correlations to maximum melatonin…

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