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Shimon Amir Photo: Concordia University
Back to sleep through Quebec researchers
Updated Monday, August 26, 2013 At 13 h 46 EDT
A good night's sleep can be disturbed by many factors including jet lag, stress and irregular working hours.
Joint work by researchers from McGill and Concordia universities could help control these disruptive factors of sleep.
Explanations
Shimon Amir Photo: Concordia University
The rotation of the Earth determines the alternation of day and night. This movement also affects living beings by giving them daily rhythms. For example, mammals have an "internal clock" in the brain that determines the daily cycles of wakefulness and sleep, diet, metabolism, and many other biological processes.
The operation of this clock is complex and its molecular processes associated remained largely unknown to science.
"To understand and address the causes and symptoms of circadian rhythm disruptions, we need to examine more closely the basic biological mechanisms that regulate our internal clock. "- Prof. Shimon Amir, McGill University
Shimon Amir researchers from Concordia University and Nahum Sonenberg of McGill University have discovered how a fundamental biological process, called protein synthesis is regulated by the body's internal clock. They even found that the elimination of a repressor in the internal clock significantly improves its functioning.
Like all mammals have a similar internal clock, the researchers conducted their research on mice lacking the repressor (4E-BP1) known to inhibit protein synthesis. Result: the latter were recovering faster disruption of their internal clock.
The duo believe that these observations could help develop treatments related to problems caused by the disruption of the internal clock, the time difference, disorders related to shift work and even some chronic diseases such as depression and Parkinson's .
The authors, whose work is published in the journal Neuron , also found that the rate of vasoactive intestinal peptide, a small protein essential to the functioning of the internal clock of the brain, was higher in mice where the repressor 4E-BP1 is absent. This finding suggests that genetic engineering could improve the functioning of the internal clock, paving the way for a new type of treatment of disorders associated with dysregulation of the latter.
Did you know?
Optimal functioning of the internal clock improves many physiological processes, including aging.
Optimal functioning of the internal clock improves many physiological processes, including aging.
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