1898年Heubner发现一患有松果体肿瘤的男孩出现性早熟,他根据临床观察,第一次提出了松果体与性腺有关系。1937年,Browman发现,鼠类处于连续光照下可持续保持动情期,当用牛松果体提取物给鼠注射时,这种动情状态可以减弱或抑制。Wurtman等人提出,松果体可能释放一种能抑制性腺的物质,当动物处于连续光照时,这种物质的形成和释放均减少。后来Lerner等人从牛松果体分离出了能抑制性腺的松果体激素Melatonin。 In 1898, Heubner found that a boy with pineal tumors had precocious puberty. For the first time, according to clinical observations, he proposed the relationship between the pineal gland and the gonads. In 1937, Browman found that rodents sustain estrus in continuous light, which can be attenuated or suppressed when injected with the pine nut extract. Wurtman et al. Suggest that the pineal gland may release a substance that inhibits the gonads, reducing the formation and release of the substance when the animal is exposed to continuous light. Later, Lerner et al. Isolated the pineal hormone Melatonin that inhibits gonads from the pineal gland.