Full Description
I wrote this book urged by the overwhelming desire that arises towards the end of life to recapitulate the past. My goal was to summarize my experience of practicing science at the end of the 20th and early 21st centuries in Argentina, a country located far away from the world's leading scientific centers. In the book, I summarize the intricacies of the pineal gland ("the stone of madness") as historical, mystical and medical entity and its entry in contemporary medicine with the description of melatonin. I also reflect on how being associated with an unexplored subject at the beginning of his scientific career impacts the life of a scientist throughout their entire life. Today we know that in humans pineal melatonin is released every day late in the evening, and there is evidence that it is the trigger for the sleep process. But the most exciting aspect of melatonin is that it is a substance that is present in all living creatures, from unicellular organisms to plants and higher mammals, a fact that evinces its importance for life. Further, the neuroprotective action of melatonin promises to be crucial for the control of neurodegenerative diseases we face as a pandemic in this century. The discoverer of melatonin, Aaron Lerner, based its name on melano, the Greek word for black, because of its effect on the pigment cells of the skin. As in "La vie en rose", the immortal Edith Piaf song written in 1946, my lifelong work with melatonin could well be called "Ma vie en noir".
Contents
Preface - A Contagious Stone?.- Chapter 1 - Brief History of the Stone of Madness.- Chapter 2 - The Pre-Scientific Stage of the Pineal Gland.- Chapter 3 - The Beginnings of the Pineal Scientific Era: Since the Late Nineteenth Century to Melatonin's Discovery.- Chapter 4 - Sleep / Wake Cycle. History and Facts.- Chapter 5 -When this Chronicler Enters this Story: the '60.- Chapter 6 - The Stone of Madness as a Neuroendocrine Organ and Model: '70.- Chapter 7 - Peripheral Innervation of the Neuroendocrine-immune System: The Challenges to Change a Physiological Paradigm.- Chapter 8 - Melatonin as a Potential Therapeutic Agent: the 80's.- Chapter 9 - Melatonin as a chronobiotic that opens "the Gates of Sleep": '90.- Chapter 10 - elatonin and "Diseases of the Soul": The Stone of Madness Comes Back.- Chapter 11 - XXI Century: The 24/7 Society as an Environmental Mutation.- Chapter 12 - Melatonin as a Medicament for the 24/7 Society. Metabolic Syndrome.- Chapter 13 - Melatonin as a Medicament for the 24/7 Society. Normal and Pathological Aging.- Chapter 15 - Melatonin as a Nutraceutical.- Epilogue
