Rhythms Flashcards
(196 cards)
What do biological clocks control?
Any single function within our bodies
What are the physiological impacts of clocks?
- Sleep/wake
- Body temp
- Cardiac output
- Memory
- Energy metabolism
- Eating behaviour
- Immune response
- Detoxification
What are the cellular impacts of clocks?
- Cell cycle progression
- DNA damage repair
- Cellular energy metabolism
- Cell detoxification
- Neuronal excitability
What are the possible impacts of clocks when it goes wrong?
Association with disease
- Affective disorders (bipolar and depression)
- Sleep disorders
- Neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimer’s)
- Obesity/metabolic syndrome
- Inflammation (asthma, COPD)
- Cancer
What are examples of modern lifestyles opposing natural rhythms?
- Chronic shift work (around 15mill people in EU)
- Sleep deprivation (phone usage before bed)
- Altered eating habits
- Jet lag
Generally, how do clocks come about?
- The earth spins around the axis every 24 hours
- Every 24 hours, the environement changes
- During the day there is light, temp is higher and the opposite for night
- Every organism in the planet has adapted to this and can adjust behaviour according to this
- There is a strong relation to survival in animals
- Those with damaged biological clocks don’t live long in the wild. they get eaten by predators
What is an exeption of an animal that does not rely on circadian rhythms?
Deep water fish (more than 1km) under the sea
What is an example of a cyanobacteria rhythm?
Synechococcus: gene activity
What is an example of a plant rhythm?
Bean: leaf movement
What is an example of a fungi rhythm?
Neurospora: conidiation
What is an example of an insect rhythm?
Drosophila: eclosion
What is a circadian rhythm?
A rhythm around 20-28 hours
What is an ultradian rhythm?
A rhythm less than 20 hours
Things that happen several times within a day such as EEG and heart-beat
What is an infradian rhythm?
A rhythm more than 28 hours
There are two types:
- Circalunar (monthly- tides and menstrual cycle)
- Circannual (seasonal/annual- bird migration and hibernation)
What are 4 main characteristics of the circadian system?
- It is a self-sustained oscillator
- It is entrained/synchronised by the environment
- Has a period of 24 hours relating to the rest of the clocks in an organism
- Drives rhythmical outputs
What is the main source of entrainment for the circadian system?
Light
What is the pathway of the circadian system?
- Eye receptors
- SCN in the hypothalamus
- Output to other brain areas
- To peripheral clocks and behavioural/physiological rhythms
Where are the ganglion cells located?
Back of the retina
What do ganglion cells detect?
The amount of light in the environment, whether it is light or dark
What type of light are ganglion cells sensitive to?
To blue light
Has implications in modern life because looking at blue light emitters before bed
These cells are sensitive to sending information to the cells saying its day and bright when it is not
What are the rods and cones?
- Classic visual photoreceptors mainly involved with vision
- Can have animals that do not have these (blind)
- However if the persons ganglion cells are still functional, they can still detect the light in the environment and synchronise to it
What is the main pace-maker in humans clocks?
SCN
What is the structure of the SCN?
2 nuclei on either side of the 3rd ventricle and above the optic chiasm (well located to get visual information)
What is the core of the SCN?
Sits above the optic chiasm and recievs photic information about light and the environment