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I wrote this book urged by the overwhelming desire that arises
towards the end of life to recapitulate the past. My goal was to
summarize my experience of practicing science at the end of the
20th and early 21st centuries in Argentina, a country located far
away from the world's leading scientific centers. In the book, I
summarize the intricacies of the pineal gland ("the stone of
madness") as historical, mystical and medical entity and its entry
in contemporary medicine with the description of melatonin. I also
reflect on how being associated with an unexplored subject at the
beginning of his scientific career impacts the life of a scientist
throughout their entire life. Today we know that in humans pineal
melatonin is released every day late in the evening, and there is
evidence that it is the trigger for the sleep process. But the most
exciting aspect of melatonin is that it is a substance that is
present in all living creatures, from unicellular organisms to
plants and higher mammals, a fact that evinces its importance for
life. Further, the neuroprotective action of melatonin promises to
be crucial for the control of neurodegenerative diseases we face as
a pandemic in this century. The discoverer of melatonin, Aaron
Lerner, based its name on melano, the Greek word for black, because
of its effect on the pigment cells of the skin. As in "La vie en
rose", the immortal Edith Piaf song written in 1946, my lifelong
work with melatonin could well be called "Ma vie en noir".
I wrote this book urged by the overwhelming desire that arises
towards the end of life to recapitulate the past. My goal was to
summarize my experience of practicing science at the end of the
20th and early 21st centuries in Argentina, a country located far
away from the world's leading scientific centers. In the book, I
summarize the intricacies of the pineal gland ("the stone of
madness") as historical, mystical and medical entity and its entry
in contemporary medicine with the description of melatonin. I also
reflect on how being associated with an unexplored subject at the
beginning of his scientific career impacts the life of a scientist
throughout their entire life. Today we know that in humans pineal
melatonin is released every day late in the evening, and there is
evidence that it is the trigger for the sleep process. But the most
exciting aspect of melatonin is that it is a substance that is
present in all living creatures, from unicellular organisms to
plants and higher mammals, a fact that evinces its importance for
life. Further, the neuroprotective action of melatonin promises to
be crucial for the control of neurodegenerative diseases we face as
a pandemic in this century. The discoverer of melatonin, Aaron
Lerner, based its name on melano, the Greek word for black, because
of its effect on the pigment cells of the skin. As in "La vie en
rose", the immortal Edith Piaf song written in 1946, my lifelong
work with melatonin could well be called "Ma vie en noir".
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