Abstract: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive and fibrotic lung disease. The etiology is unclear and the pathogenesis is not completely clear. At present, there is no curable drug. Melatonin (MT) is a neurohormone produced and released by the pineal gland of vertebrates.Many studies have shown that melatonin has anti fibrosis effect, which can inhibit the development of pulmonary fibrosis by reducing oxidative stress, inhibiting inflammatory response, inhibiting epithelial mesenchymal transformation, anti apoptosis and regulating autophagy. This paper summarizes the research results of the relationship between MT and IPF in recent years, in order to provide new ideas for the clinical treatment of IPF.

Key words: melatonin, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, oxidative stress, apoptosis, autophagy