Neurons That Control Brain's Body Clock Identified

Neurons in the brain that produce the pleasure-signaling neurotransmitter dopamine also directly control the brain's circadian center, or "body clock" -- the area that regulates eating cycles, metabolism and waking/resting cycles -- a key link that possibly affects the body's ability to adapt to jet lag and rotating shift work, a new University of Virginia study has demonstrated.

Neurons that control brain's body clock identified. Image credit: tasnimnews.com (CC BY 4.0)

The researchers used two types of mice in their investigation: one normal, the other with dopamine signaling disrupted. By shifting the light schedules of the two groups by six hours, a jet-lag effect, they found that the dopamine-disrupted animals took much longer to resynchronize to the six-hour time shift, indicating feedback between the dopamine neurons and the circadian center.

This shows that when we engage in rewarding activities like eating, we are inadvertently affecting our biological rhythms. Researchers have found the missing link to how pleasurable things and the circadian system influence one another.

This discovery, which identifies a direct dopamine neuron connection to the circadian center, is possibly the first step toward the development of unique drugs, targeting specific neurons, to combat the unpleasant symptoms of jet-lag and shiftwork, as well as several dangerous pathologies.

Modern society often places abnormal pressure on the human body -- from shifting time schedules due to air travel, to work cycles that don't conform to natural light, to odd eating times -- and these external conditions create an imbalance in the body's natural cycles, which are evolutionarily synchronized to day and night.

These imbalances may contribute to depression, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and even cancer. (Tasnim News Agency)

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