Lactation onset and urinary 6-sulphatoxymelatonin concentration in diabetic and control postpartum women

• Grant number: 24/10246-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Fernanda Gaspar Do Amaral
• Grantee: Maria Luíza Conti de Freitas Gomes Custódio
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/24327-5 - Melatonin physiology and pathophysiology, basic and clinical studies: characterization of the primary and secundary Hypomelatoninemia Syndromes, AP.TEM

Abstract

Pineal melatonin is an important hormone in the internal timing system. Melatonin synchronizes physiological processes, the biological central clock, and the environmental light/dark cycle. Melatonin-related syndromes are usually also related to metabolic problems, in a way that it is not uncommon to observe melatonin dysfunction in patients with metabolic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus (DM). Patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus present lower blood melatonin levels when compared to healthy individuals. High blood glucose levels during pregnancy, classified as gestational DM (GDM) and DM during pregnancy, have several consequences for the mother's and the offspring's health, such as the delay in milk let-down. Furthermore, women diagnosed with diabetes mellitus have lower melatonin levels when compared to healthy women during pregnancy. However, there is no evidence of this correlation after childbirth nor its possible interference with the physiological course of lactogenesis II. The present study aims to evaluate the potential correlation between the process of lactogenesis II and the urinary concentration of melatonin's main metabolite, 6-sulfatoxymelatonin, in post-partum control women and women with diabetes mellitus, evaluated from 6 hours after birth until hospital discharge.