In humans, sleep and wakefulness and the associated cognitive processes are regulated through interactions between sleep homeostasis and the circadian system. Chronic disruption of sleep and circadian rhythmicity is common in our society and there is a need for a better understanding of the brain mechanisms regulating sleep, wakefulness and associated cognitive processes. This review summarizes recent investigations which provide first neural correlates of the combined influence of sleep homeostasis and circadian rhythmicity on cognitive brain activity. Markers of interindividual variations in sleep-wake regulation, such as chronotype and polymorphisms in sleep and clock genes, are associated with changes in cognitive brain responses in subcortical and cortical areas in response to manipulations of the sleep-wake cycle. This review also includes recent data showing that cognitive brain activity is regulated by light, which is a powerful modulator of cognition and alertness and also directly impacts sleep and circadian rhythmicity. The effect of light varied with age, psychiatric status, PERIOD3 genotype and changes in sleep homeostasis and circadian phase. These data provide new insights into the contribution of demographic characteristics, the sleep-wake cycle, circadian rhythmicity and light to brain functioning.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2014.00126 | DOI Listing |
J Biol Rhythms
January 2025
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado.
Circadian rhythms, intrinsic 24-h cycles that drive rhythmic changes in behavior and physiology, are important for normal physiology and health. Previous work in adults has identified sex differences in circadian rhythms of melatonin, temperature, and the intrinsic period of the human circadian timing system. However, less is known about sex differences in circadian rhythms at other developmental stages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Center for Computation and Integrative Biology, Rutgers, The State of New Jersey, Camden, NJ, United States of America.
Melatonin, a molecule with diverse biological functions, is ubiquitously present in living organisms. There is significant interest in understanding melatonin signal transduction pathways in humans, particularly due to its critical role in regulating the sleep-wake cycle. However, a knowledge gap remains in fully elucidating the mechanisms by which melatonin influences circadian regulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Neurosci
January 2025
Translational Neuroscience Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
Introduction: Alterations in multiple subregions of the human prefrontal cortex (PFC) have been heavily implicated in psychiatric diseases. Moreover, emerging evidence suggests that circadian rhythms in gene expression are present across the brain, including in the PFC, and that these rhythms are altered in disease. However, investigation into the potential circadian mechanisms underlying these diseases in animal models must contend with the fact that the human PFC is highly evolved and specialized relative to that of rodents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNPJ Biol Timing Sleep
January 2025
Section of Chronobiology, School of Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK.
Time-of-day variation in the molecular profile of biofluids and tissues is a well-described phenomenon, but-especially for proteomics-is rarely considered in terms of the challenges this presents to reproducible biomarker identification. We provide a case study analysis of human circadian and ultradian rhythmicity in proteins, including in the complement and coagulation cascades and apolipoproteins, with PLG, CFAH, ZA2G and ITIH2 demonstrated as rhythmic for the first time. We also show that rhythmicity increases the risk of Type II errors due to the reduction in statistical power from increased variance, and that controlling for rhythmic time-of-day variation improves statistical power and reduces the chances of Type II errors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBone Res
January 2025
Department of Orthodontics, State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Circadian rhythm is ubiquitous in nature. Circadian clock genes such as Bmal1 and Clock form a multi-level transcription-translation feedback network, and regulate a variety of physiological and pathological processes, including bone and cartilage metabolism. Deletion of the core clock gene Bmal1 leads to pathological bone alterations, while the phenotypes are not consistent.
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