By Clive Cookson
Monday, May 19, 2008
Research into circadian rhythms has led to the discovery of a new and unanticipated molecular cog in the human body clock. A small molecule called c-AMP turns out to play a key signalling role in the suprachiasmatic nuclei or SCN, where the body clock resides in the brain.
The discovery, published on the 16 May in Science, was made by Michael Hastings and colleagues at the UK Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. The MRC believes drugs that manipulate the c-AMP biological pathway could reset the body clock in people whose sleep is disrupted through air travel, shift work or disease; it has filed a patent application for the technology.
‘‘Disruption of our circadian programme is a significant and growing cause of chronic illness. If we can identify ways to control the clockwork we may be able to learn how to reset it when it goes wrong,'' said Dr Hastings.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Research into circadian rhythms has led to the discovery of a new and unanticipated molecular cog in the human body clock. A small molecule called c-AMP turns out to play a key signalling role in the suprachiasmatic nuclei or SCN, where the body clock resides in the brain.
The discovery, published on the 16 May in Science, was made by Michael Hastings and colleagues at the UK Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. The MRC believes drugs that manipulate the c-AMP biological pathway could reset the body clock in people whose sleep is disrupted through air travel, shift work or disease; it has filed a patent application for the technology.
‘‘Disruption of our circadian programme is a significant and growing cause of chronic illness. If we can identify ways to control the clockwork we may be able to learn how to reset it when it goes wrong,'' said Dr Hastings.
