Oxygen free radicals, melatonin, and aging

Abstract The recognized peripheral and central biochemical, neuroendocrinological, behavioral, pharmacological, and clinical actions of melatonin are involved at different levels of an overall concept of the pathophysiology of aging. This conceptual approach combines the biochemistry of oxygen free radicals, the social behavior of the individual and the resulting cellular alterations. This has allowed us to propose antioxidant properties of melatonin that we have experimentally demonstrated.