How our body clock is set
Scientists find the mechanism is same in flies and mice
An Indian-American scientist has found a simple mechanism controlling the sleep-wake process in animals, which appears to have been conserved over several hundred million years.
Ravi Allada, circadian rhythms expert at the Northwestern University in the U.S. state of Illinois, has discovered how an animal’s biological clock wakes it up in the morning and sends it to sleep at night.
A simple two-cycle mechanism turns key brain neurons on or off during a 24-hour day, according to the findings published in journal Cell. The clock’s mechanism is much like a switch.
In the study of brain circadian neurons that govern the daily sleep-wake cycle timing, Prof. Allada and his research team found high sodium channel activity in these neurons during the day turn the cells on and ultimately awakes an animal.
Similarly high potassium channel activity at night turns them off, allowing the animal to sleep.
The researchers were surprised to discover the same sleep-wake switch in flies and mice as well.
“This suggests the underlying mechanism controlling our sleep-wake cycle is ancient,” Prof. Allada said. “This oscillation mechanism appears to be conserved across several hundred million years of evolution. And if it’s in the mouse, it is likely in humans, too,” said Prof. Allada, chair of neurobiology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
Better understanding of this mechanism could lead to new drug targets to address sleep-wake trouble related to jet lag, shift work and other sleep disorders.
The researchers call it a ‘bicycle’ mechanism: two pedals that go up and down across a 24-hour day, conveying important time information to the neurons.
“Now, of course, we have more questions about what’s regulating this sleep-wake pathway, so there is more work to be done,” he added. — PTI
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