It was the dermatologist Aron Lerner who discovered melatonin. The inspiration for his research was a dermatological syllogism.
Premise: The pineal gland produces a hormone which inhibits (lightens) pigment cells.
Premise: Malignant melanoma is a tumour of pigment cells.
Conclusion: The hormone of the pineal gland will inhibit malignant melanoma.
Lerner discovered the structure of the skin-lightening hormone, N-acetyl-5-methoxy tryptamine, and he named it melatonin (Lerner, Case, Takahashi et al. 1958).
Another group of extraordinarily talented scientists showed that melatonin, in the mammalian pineal gland, has a function which is quite different from its skin-lightening and camouflage role in the frog. First, it was found that melatonin is secreted in the dark, i.e. the skin-lightening hormone of the frog (secreted in bright light to camouflage it) is paradoxically secreted at night in mammals (Wurtman, Axelrod & Phillips, 1963b). Secondly, the mammalian pineal gland is still responsive to light, i.e. there
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