Melatonin and Neurodegenerative Disease: ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)

2013-06-18 14:44:47

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a fatal progressive neurodegenerative disease. It is a devastating diagnosis with very few treatment options and no known cure to date so any research showing promise in treating this disease provides some semblance of hope for this group of individuals. A recent study published this past March looked at melatonin in the laboratory mouse model representing human familial ALS with the SOD1 mutation.⁽¹⁾ The study results indicate that melatonin was able to significantly delay disease onset, deterioration and mortality in the mice.⁽¹⁾ In addition to this, these researchers showed for the first time ever that disease progression in this group was associated with loss of melatonin and its receptor “melatonin receptor 1A”. A safety trial using high dose (300mg/day) rectal melatonin in 31 ALS patients was performed over a period of up to two years and showed it was safe, well tolerated with no adverse effects.⁽²⁾ This safety trial also showed that a certain circulating marker of oxidation normally found elevated in ALS patients in general, not just the SOD1 group, were normalized in this melatonin trial. Melatonin is a hormone with a number of known therapeutic actions in the body, including acting as a very potent antioxidant.⁽³⁾ This is how researchers believe it may benefit these patients. Considering its safety, tolerability profile, and the need for treatment options for ALS, why human clinical trials using melatonin aren’t underway is astonishing. Perhaps this latest study will spark the flame needed to get a trial underway.