Summary
Astrocytes possess autonomous circadian clocks that are sufficient to drive daily neuronal activity and behavioral rhythms, with particular importance in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. In Alzheimer's disease models, disrupted circadian function accelerates neurodegeneration, suggesting that supporting circadian health through consistent light-dark cycles may help protect brain homeostasis in aging populations.
Key Findings
- Astrocyte molecular clocks in the SCN are sufficient to drive daily cycles of neuronal activity and behavior, even without intact neuronal clocks.
- In mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, circadian disturbances accelerate astroglial activation and other brain pathologies, implying a neuroprotective role for intact circadian rhythms.
- In brain cancer, morning treatment timing has been associated with prolonged survival, and gliomas show daily rhythms in gene expression and drug sensitivity.
Categories
Sleep & Circadian Health: Reviews astrocyte circadian clocks and their role in driving sleep-wake cycles and circadian behavior.
Dementia & Elder Care: Discusses how circadian disturbances accelerate astroglial activation and brain pathology in Alzheimer's disease mouse models.
The Science of Light: Explores SCN pacemaker biology and molecular clock mechanisms relevant to circadian entrainment science.
Author(s)
AK Ravnanger
Publication Year
2022
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
Dementia & Elder Care
- Light therapy and Alzheimer's disease and related dementia: past, present, and future
- New strategies for neuroprotection in glaucoma, a disease that affects the central nervous system
- Sleep and circadian rhythms in Parkinson's disease and preclinical models
- Chronobioengineering indoor lighting to enhance facilities for ageing and Alzheimer's disorder
- The clock is ticking. Ageing of the circadian system: from physiology to cell cycle
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