Annual Review of Neuroscience· 2012Q1· Review
Central and Peripheral Circadian Clocks in Mammals
- 2,264citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2012year
Short summary
Mammals possess a hierarchical system of circadian clocks, with a central master pacemaker in the brain's SCN and cell-autonomous clocks throughout the body that are deeply integrated with metabolic pathways.
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Key points
- Mammalian circadian system is hierarchical, involving central (SCN) and peripheral clocks.
- The SCN acts as a master pacemaker, ensuring organism-wide temporal stability.
- Peripheral clocks are cell-autonomous and integrated with metabolic pathways.
- Circadian clocks are fundamental to orchestrating metabolism.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The circadian system of mammals is composed of a hierarchy of oscillators that function at the cellular, tissue, and systems levels. A common molecular mechanism underlies the cell-autonomous circadian oscillator throughout the body, yet this clock system is adapted to different functional contexts. In the central suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, a coupled population of neuronal circadian oscillators acts as a master pacemaker for the organism to drive rhythms in activity and rest, feeding, body temperature, and hormones. Coupling within the SCN network confers robustness to the SCN pacemaker, which in turn provides stability to the overall temporal architecture of the organism. Throughout the majority of the cells in the body, cell-autonomous circadian clocks are intimately enmeshed within metabolic pathways. Thus, an emerging view for the adaptive significance of circadian clocks is their fundamental role in orchestrating metabolism.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 2012 · DOI ↗
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Field: Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
Endocrine and Autonomic SystemsNeuroscience