Summary
Hair follicles offer a noninvasive, accessible method for monitoring peripheral circadian clock gene expression, which reflects central clock status and can be disrupted by light exposure, shift work, and metabolic changes. This has practical implications for chronotherapy and personalized treatment scheduling, as well as for assessing circadian health in clinical and occupational settings.
Key Findings
- Clock genes in hair follicles are modulated by both the central circadian system and extrinsic factors including light and thyroid hormones.
- Hair follicle sampling can serve as a noninvasive biomarker for circadian-rhythm-related conditions including day/night shift work, sleep-wake disorders, physical activity patterns, energy metabolism, and aging.
- The authors recommend combining hair follicle gene expression profiling with multidimensional assays (body temperature, blood samples, validated questionnaires) to improve diagnostic accuracy due to the complexity of circadian biology.
- Hair follicle circadian gene profiles may support personalized chronotherapy scheduling, optimizing treatment timing based on individual circadian phase.
Categories
Sleep & Circadian Health: Hair follicles express peripheral clock genes synchronized with the central circadian system, enabling noninvasive monitoring of circadian rhythm disorders including sleep-wake disorders and shift work.
The Science of Light: Light is identified as an extrinsic modulator of circadian gene expression in hair follicles, relevant to understanding peripheral entrainment mechanisms.
Shift Work & Staff Wellbeing: Hair follicle sampling is proposed as a practical biomarker tool for assessing circadian disruption in shift workers and those with altered sleep-wake schedules.
Author(s)
LP Liu, MH Li, YW Zheng
Publication Year
2023
Number of Citations
6
Related Publications
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The twoāprocess model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors
The Science of Light
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- Color appearance models
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
Shift Work & Staff Wellbeing
- Off the clock: from circadian disruption to metabolic disease
- Endocrine regulation of circadian physiology
- Working against the biological clock: a review for the Occupational Physician
- Shiftwork and light at night negatively impact molecular and endocrine timekeeping in the female reproductive axis in humans and rodents
- Circadian Rhythms Disrupted by Light at Night and Mistimed Food Intake Alter Hormonal Rhythms and Metabolism