Komal Bavaskar, D Y Patil university
What is a circadian cycle?
Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles of physical, behavioral & mental changes in a body. These natural processes are largely influenced by light and dark and affect the majority of living things, including animals, plants, and microorganisms. Chronobiology is the science of studying circadian rhythms.
Every animal has a circadian cycle that is linked to dawn and sunset. Animals can anticipate and prepare for changes in their environment due to these cycles.
How does this circadian rhythm affect?
Circadian rhythm could affect essential bodily activities & also disturbance in this rhythm can have significant health implications;
- Persistent sleep disruption has been linked to an increase in intestinal infection in humans.
- Body temperature, hormone production, eating habits, and digestion.
Circadian cycle related to sleeping & eating:
- Most people, however, are aware of the influence of circadian rhythms on their sleep habits. The SCN regulates the synthesis of melatonin, a hormone that induces sleep. It gets information about incoming light from the optic nerves, which are responsible for relaying information from the eyes to the brain. When there is less light, such as at night, the SCN instructs the brain to produce more melatonin, causing you to get drowsy.
- When you are sleep-deprived, your circadian rhythm is disrupted, raising ghrelin levels and lowering leptin levels in the body, which can contribute to increased appetite and sugar cravings.
According to the circadian rhythm, natural antimicrobial compound levels vary which are triggered by resident gut bacteria.
When the body is exposed to harmful germs, it can prevent food poisoning by producing a naturally antimicrobial substance, which rises mostly in the day. According to John F. Brooks II, our immune systems are not always activated. It was hypothesized that with the circadian cycle antibacterial immunity may alter in the intestines.
How do mice guts react to the circadian cycle with REG3G production?
To explore this, researchers have looked at the rhythm of expression of natural antimicrobial substances produced by mice in their guts to combat foodborne diseases. They found one of these antimicrobial molecules, known as regenerating islet-derived protein 3g (REG3G), was more plentiful at night when mice are active, and less prevalent during the day when mice sleep, On the other hand, REG3G was missing throughout the day and night in mice reared with no gut flora. They discovered that mice with cycling amounts of REG3G in their guts have large segmented filamentous bacteria-like microbes found in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans have a unique ability to attach to the intestinal lining and change the gene activity of their hosts. Further research revealed that these bacteria adhered to the intestinal lining of the mice during eating, most likely to suck off nutrients. When they have adhered, REG3G production increased in the intestines.
No REG3G, more infection:
This cycle has a major impact on mice’s capacity to resist illness. When the researchers infected normal mice with germs, they discovered that the animals had greater bacterial loads and mortality rates if they were exposed at sunset rather than sunrise. Mice that are unable to produce antimicrobial proteins, such as REG3G, showed comparable high rates of bacterial load and mortality regardless of when they were infected.
If this phenomenon happens in humans, scientists may be able to take advantage of this occurrence in the future by timing the administration of synthetic antibiotics for intestinal infections and oral vaccinations, or by developing novel techniques to prevent intestinal infections entirely. Hence, humans must think twice before plundering food from the refrigerator in the middle of the night.
Thus, fighting against food poisoning depends on the time of day.
Also read: Delta variant and pregnancy complications- Why getting jabbed is an urgency!
Reference:
Brooks, J. F., Behrendt, C. L., Ruhn, K. A., Lee, S., Raj, P., Takahashi, J. S., & Hooper, L. V. (2021). The microbiota coordinates diurnal rhythms in innate immunity with the circadian clock. Cell, 184(16), 4154-4167.e12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.001
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Author info:
Komal Bavaskar is a student currently pursuing an M.Sc in Biotechnology. She keeps a positive and proactive attitude when faced with diversity. She is interested in the research field and a very dedicated worker who sets realistic goals. Komal strives to do the best she can for whatever task is presented to her.
Published articles:
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