Effects of melatonin on cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome: a comprehensive review

Melatonin, as a neuroendocrine hormone, is produced primarily by the pineal gland. Melatonin, a pleotropic molecule, acts as a free radical scavenger, antioxidant, and regulator of circadian rhythm in mammals via several receptor-mediated and non-receptor-mediated mechanisms. This inexpensive, well-tolerated, and multi-target molecule has a great therapeutic potential against many diseases. Many evidences have proposed that melatonin plays a key role in the pathophysiology of various cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this paper is to discuss the data and experiments regarding the effects of melatonin in management of cardiovascular risk factors. PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus have been searched for data collection using related keywords. Two hundred ten articles were included in this review from 2253 founded documents. Using these documents, the main mechanisms of action of melatonin are discussed and summarized in this article. Also, recent progresses regarding melatonin’s effects on cardiovascular risk factors and diseases including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, pulmonary hypertension, and atherosclerosis have been reviewed. Many studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of melatonin in prevention and improving cardiovascular risk factors, and this inexpensive and well-tolerated drug can be strongly proposed in different cardiovascular diseases as well as metabolic syndrome.