Summary
This review explores how the exercise-induced myokine irisin, acting via BDNF signaling, may serve as a non-photic entrainment signal for the circadian system, complementing light-based entrainment through the retinohypothalamic tract. For lighting and wellbeing practitioners, this highlights that physical activity can reinforce circadian alignment, potentially synergizing with light-based interventions for populations with disrupted rhythms.
Key Findings
- Irisin is produced from FNDC5 cleavage in response to exercise and can cross the blood-brain barrier to influence brain function, including circadian clock regions.
- BDNF is proposed to play a significant role in gating photic input at the retinohypothalamic synapse in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, linking exercise-induced signals to light entrainment pathways.
- Multiple non-photic zeitgebers (exercise, feeding, temperature, social events, anxiety) can entrain the SCN master clock in addition to light, suggesting circadian health is multifactorial.
- The brain receptor for irisin remains unidentified, limiting mechanistic understanding of how exercise signals interact with circadian and BDNF pathways.
Categories
Sleep & Circadian Health: Reviews how irisin, a exercise-induced myokine, may act as a non-photic zeitgeber to entrain the suprachiasmatic nucleus circadian master clock.
The Science of Light: Discusses the gating of photic stimuli at the retinohypothalamic synapse by BDNF, relevant to understanding light entrainment mechanisms.
Author(s)
AN Inyushkin, VS Poletaev, EM Inyushkina
Publication Year
2023
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The Science of Light
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- 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