The circadian clock, which regulates numerous physiological processes like the sleep-wake cycle, hormone synthesis, and metabolism, is a precisely calibrated clock that runs inside the human body and is synced to the 24-hour cycle of Earth’s rotation.
The circadian clock is a very accurate clock synchronised to the 24-hour cycle of Earth’s rotation. It regulates several physiological processes, including the sleep-wake cycle, hormone synthesis, and metabolism.
Felix Naef at EPFL recently shed insight on how our body clocks are impacted by sex and age by revealing the architecture of tissue-specific gene expression rhythms in humans.
Time-stamped measurements are frequently used to study molecular rhythms in model organisms, but they are not frequently available for human beings. To get around this, the researchers used a unique computer technique created to assign internal clock times to around a thousand donors with pre-existing measurements from a sizable cohort of post-mortem donors.
Felix Naef notes that the data-science technique they created “interestingly” resembled magnetic system models, which are extensively researched in statistical physics. The researchers’ ground-breaking method allowed them to acquire the first thorough and precise whole-organism view of 24-hour gene expression cycles in 46 human tissues.
The core characteristics of the body’s clock machinery are retained throughout the body, therefore the study finds that sex, age, and other circumstances have no impact on them. However, the study identified widespread gene expression patterns in critical metabolism compartments, stress response pathways, and immune systems. The timing in the adrenal gland peaks first, according to the growing whole-body organisation of circadian timing, while the rhythmicity of brain areas was significantly lower than that of metabolic organs. Instead, rhythmic gene expression occurs as morning and evening waves.
A hitherto unidentified richness of sex- and age-specific gene expression rhythms spanning across biological functions was discovered when the donors were divided by sex and age. Surprisingly, whereas rhythmic programmes were often diminished with age across the body, gene expression rhythms were sex-dimorphic (different in males and females) and more persistent in females.
The liver’s “xenobiotic detoxification,” or the process by which the liver breaks down toxic compounds, was where sex-dimorphic rhythms – referring to the differences between males and females – were most apparent. The study also discovered that as people age, the rhythm of gene expression in the heart’s arteries slows down, which may help to explain why older people are more vulnerable to heart disease. The study of “chronopharmacology,” or how a person’s internal clock influences the efficacy and side effects of medication, may make use of the information provided.
This study offers fresh perspectives on the intricate interactions between our body clock, sex, and ageing. Understanding these cycles may help us develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for illnesses including sleep problems and metabolic diseases.
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