Melatonin in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Dear Colleagues,

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex group of life-long neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by a typical and maladaptive behavioral phenotype of impaired social communication. Great interest in these disease entities results from their complex and not fully explained etiopathogenesis. It is assumed that the background of ASD has a multifactorial nature: genetic, environmental, immunological, and oxidative stress factors are all correlated to its pathogenesis, together with perinatal and neonatal risk factors. Therapy is currently restricted to controlling behavioral abnormalities and involves a variety of interventions due to ASD heterogeneity. A significant increase in oxidative stress in ASD seems contribute to the development of this disease both in terms of pathogenesis and clinical symptoms. Overall, oxidative stress-related metabolites could also have potential use as biomarkers for diagnosis and may contribute to finding new effective therapeutic interventions. In ASD, abnormal patterns of melatonin release and concentrations are also observed together with increased oxidative stress. Melatonin is an endogenous indoleamine widely distributed in plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, and is actually considered an important multitasking molecule with interesting clinical applications. The use of melatonin in the management of sleep disturbance in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders is an interesting and growing topic, owing to the common mechanism of alterations in melatonin production in these patients. However, melatonin could also have positive effects on other symptoms/health problems associated with ASD.

This Special Issue will highlight and summarize the current knowledge concerning the pathogenesis of ASD (anatomical, morphostructural, molecular and biochemical alterations) and its relationship with melatonin, covering both basic and (pre)clinical aspects. Potential studies may include assessment of the endogenous melatonin patterns in ADS but, also, evaluation of the potential effect of melatonin with regard to ADS symptoms. For this Special Issue, we invite investigators to contribute with original articles as well as review articles that will describe and help in understanding the current and potential challenges surrounding “Melatonin in Autism Spectrum Disorders”.

Dr. Gaia Favero
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Medicina is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• autism spectrum disorder
• melatonin
• oxidative stress
• sleep quality