*This content was created by experts at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences, one of the world’s most important centers for multidisciplinary fundamental research in the natural and exact sciences, based in the city of Rehovot, Israel.
The changes in our circadian clocks – the internal molecular timers that control almost every cell in our body throughout the day – can cause a variety of health problems, from Sleep disorders, diabetes and cancer. However, the identity of the substances in the body that can advance or slow down these clocks and, when altered, cause these changes is not known with certainty.
A new study from the laboratory of Professor Gad Asher on Weizmann Institute of Sciencepublished in Nature communication reveals that the sex hormones They play a fundamental role in synchronizing cell clocks with each other and with the environment.
The physician-led research team Gal Manella, Saar Ezagouri and Nityanand Bolshette, showed that the female sex hormones, especially those progesteronetogether with that cortisol, The stress hormone has a drastic effect on the clock.
It is already known that the circadian clock is not only controlled by external signals such as: sunshinebut also through signals transmitted by the bloodstream. So far, however Blood signs They had not yet been fully mapped and there was no certainty about the component within the watch that serves as the “entry point.” The reason: The researchers lacked an accurate method to track the clock’s response to various signals over an entire 24-hour cycle.
In recent years, the laboratory of Professor Asher, an international leader in the study of the molecular mechanisms of circadian clocks, developed an ingenious method It uses a series of human cells, each representing a different time of day. It resembles a wall full of clocks showing the current time in major cities around the world. This new approach enabled researchers for the first time and with unprecedented precision, Map how cellular clocks synchronize through blood signals.
The study not only discovered the influence of sex hormones, but also showed that the component of the clock that receives these signals is the Cry2 protein, instead of Per2, as previously assumed.
The levels of Sex hormones change over the course of life: during menstrual cycles, pregnancy, hormone therapy, use of contraceptives and various diseases. These conditions are also known to be associated with changes in circadian clocks, notes Asher. Our new findings suggest that these changes are related to interactions between them sex hormones and the Mechanisms that synchronize circadian clocks.
Professor Gad Asher’s research is supported by Dr. Barry Sherman Institute of Medicinal Chemistry supported.
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