[Determination of melatonin in biological fluids]

Abstract

The review considers main approaches to solving the problem in the quantification of melatonin and describes physicochemical and biological methods for melatonin determination in biological fluids (saliva, urine, plasma) and tissues. The impetus to writing this paper came from the considerably growing interest of the scientific community in melatonin and the in-depth studies of its physiological role, which had revealed a diversity of its previously unknown most important functions and confirmed its presence in many compartments of the body. Due to the specificity of its molecular structure and low concentration, melatonin remains invisible for many conventional analyses. The way out may be combination detection that involves the benefits of a few procedures and that has emerged at the interface of various sciences.