Serum concentrations of melatonin in prepubertal gilts exposed to either constant or stepwise biweekly alteration in scotophase

Melatonin (MEL), a hormone known to mediate photoperiodic cues, is secreted from the pineal gland in a circadian fashion in numerous species. The transduction of photoperiodic information into the secretion of MEL, however, remains controversial in the pig. To determine whether domestic pigs have a nocturnal increase in serum melatonin when exposed to equatorial photoperiods only, 24 prepubertal gilts (38.7 +/- 0.7 kg; 104.5 +/- 0.8 d) and 12 mature ewes, serving as positive controls, were assigned randomly to one of two environmentally regulated rooms. The Light (L):dark (D) schedule in one room remained constant (10L:14D), while the other room scotophase (darkness duration) was decreased by 1 hr every 2 wk (Experiment 1). After a 2-wk acclimation to each new schedule, 6 ewes and 6 gilts in each room were bled by venipuncture at 2-hr intervals for 22 hr. Experiment 2 was conducted as described for Experiment 1, except that the LD schedule in one room remained constant (15L:9D) while length of scotophase in the other room was increased by 1 hr every 2 wk. In gilts that were exposed to constant 10L:14D, scotophase MEL in serum averaged 103 +/- 13 pg/ml as compared with 57 +/- 13 pg/ml in the photophase. Using each gilt's initial photophase value as a statistical covariate, scotophase MEL in the constant 10L:14D schedule was higher (P < 0.001) than photophase MEL. A similar analysis of MEL in gilts exposed to stepwise biweekly decreases in scotophase revealed a scotophase elevation (P < 0.05) in only certain LD schedules (i.e., 12L:12D and 13L:11D), but the same trend was present throughout all LD schedules. Subjective examination of individual gilt profiles revealed that 56% of gilts had a nocturnal increase in serum MEL in Experiment 1. However, only 10% of the MEL profiles were closely coupled to the environmental LD periods. Overall, mean serum MEL was slightly elevated during scotophase in gilts, but the nocturnal elevation of MEL in gilts was of lesser magnitude and more variable than in ewes. Data from these two experiments suggest that the domestic pig has an inherently weak nocturnal elevation in serum MEL, and the ability to detect these rises is dampened by considerable pig-to-pig variability.