Proper tissue functioning depends largely on proper communication between the brain's central clock and various peripheral clocks, IRB research suggests.
In our bodies a A set of biological clocks They allow us to anticipate and be responsible for changes occurring in our environment Regulating various physiological processes harmoniously. These hours are what cause, for example, us to feel sleepy at night or the entire digestive system to be ready to digest food when we eat.
In this gear, the central clock located in the hypothalamus and Directly connected to the retina Through it, it receives information about the light and dark cycle, which communicates and synchronizes with peripheral tissue clocks to trigger various functions.
This synchronization between Central biological clock Peripheral clocks are essential for the functioning of various tissues and play a major role in the body since their disruption is linked to premature muscle aging. This has been proven by research conducted on mice led by Salvador Aznar BenitaICREA researcher at the Barcelona Research Institute (IRB) and Bora Muñoz Canovesa researcher at Pompeu Fabra University, recently joined Altos Labs (San Diego, USA).
to know more
The study focused on studying this connection between central and peripheral biological clocks in two tissues: skin and muscle. In both cases he proved it Coordination between clocks is essential to maintain optimal tissue function. Details of the work were published in magazines at the same time Sciences And Stem cell.
In the case of muscle, the team previously showed that mice genetically engineered to lack the Bmal1 gene, involved in communication between central and peripheral circadian clocks, showed dysfunction. Premature aging and increased muscle weakness.
In a new experiment designed to restore Bmal1 to the researchers' liking, the results showed that restoring communication between the clocks allowed Slowing down premature aging of muscles Such as loss of muscle mass in the mice studied, suggesting that this association is necessary to maintain adequate tissue function.
In previous studies, scientists have also shown that peripheral clocks have a certain autonomy, being able to manage about 15% of circadian clock functions, which are essential, even when communication with the central clock fails.
“The fact that our entire body is not completely interconnected and that the skin continues to generate a barrier or that the liver knows how to metabolize glucose independently, without having to connect to the central clock, makes sense from an evolutionary point of view. But it only happens with basic functions,” says the researcher. .
“Now we've seen that by re-synchronizing the central clock with the peripheral clock, so that the two go hand in hand, We get 35% more jobs.“Both in the muscles or in the skin,” confirms Aznar Benita. These functions are key to tissue condition. “We saw that re-establishing connectivity made a very significant change in aging, it slowed down and instead of looking like the muscle of an elderly person was more like a middle-aged person,” he adds.
The researcher continues this discovery It opens the door to the development of treatments against muscle aging.
In this sense, they explored the role that interventions such as temporary food restriction could play in preliminary experiments on mice. “We know that certain nutritional interventions have a powerful anti-aging benefit and we wanted to analyze their effect.” According to their data, temporary dietary restriction was able to partially replace the role of the central clock as well as increase the autonomy of peripheral clocks.
Aznar Benita says that the ideal solution is to develop strategies that allow imitation of these mechanisms.
In any case, the researcher emphasizes that preventing disturbances in circadian rhythms is essential to maintaining good health and not accelerating aging.
“Beeraholic. Friend of animals everywhere. Evil web scholar. Zombie maven.”