Braving the cold to understand what makes squirrels tick

Date:

January 5, 2015

Source:

Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB)

Summary:

The circadian clock of arctic ground squirrels works differently during the cold of hibernation, new research shows. Many mammal species in colder climates spend the winter months in torpor, commonly known as hibernation. During this period of torpor, many bodily functions are suppressed to conserve energy, including the daily clock known as the circadian clock. A new study asks the question, do circadian clocks persist throughout torpor?

Continued ...

Scientists Redraw the Blueprint of the Body's Biological Clock

ScienceDaily (Apr. 5, 2012) — The discovery of a major gear in the biological clock that tells the body when to sleep and metabolize food may lead to new drugs to treat sleep problems and metabolic disorders, including diabetes.


Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, led by Ronald M. Evans, a professor in Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory, showed that two cellular switches found on the nucleus of mouse cells, known as REV-ERBα and REV-ERBβ, are essential for maintaining normal sleeping and eating cycles and for metabolism of nutrients from food.

The findings, reported March 29 inNature, describe a powerful link between circadian rhythms and metabolism and suggest a new avenue for treating disorders of both systems, including jet lag, sleep disorders, obesity and diabetes.

"This fundamentally changes our knowledge about the workings of the circadian clock and how it orchestrates our sleep-wake cycles, when we eat and even the times our bodies metabolize nutrients," says Evans. "Nuclear receptors can be targeted with drugs, which suggests we might be able to target REV-ERBα and β to treat disorders of sleep and metabolism."

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405224456.htm