Recent discoveries made by Dr M. Belle and Professor H. Piggins of the Faculty of Life Sciences have revolutionised the decades-old theory on how scientists interpret the internal setting of the body’s natural clock, the circadian rhythm. Their research is now providing a new set of potential drug targets to combat sleep and mood disorders, which involve disruption of the internal clock.
Previous studies had suggested that a small group of electrical cells located at the base of the brain – the suprachiasmatic nuclei, fluctuate their signalling activity from high during the day, to low at night. It was thought that the timing of these events results in a tight control of the daily cycle of feeling hungry, waking up and sleepiness.
Now the latest research, published in the influential magazine Science, shows that this assumption is in fact wrong.
Instead, through the collaboration between the University of Manchester and the University of Michigan, it is now thought that these electrically signalling cells remain in a constant and highly excitable state – without transmitting their electrical message. The only exception to this being brief signals sent at dawn and dusk which may then adjust the body’s biological functions for the rest of the day.
This puzzling mechanism presents researchers with new potential for understanding the complex wiring of the brain, and further study in this area may provide us with answers to neural disorders such as insomnia.
by Christine Jameson, Science and Research Editor
Student Direct