• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.51-60
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• 2014

A 'circadian rhythm' is a self-sustained biological rhythm (cycle) that repeats itself approximately every 24 hours. Circadian rhythms are generated by an internal clock, or pacemaker, and persist even in the absence of environmental time cues, collectively termed 'zeitgebers.' Although organisms generate circadian rhythms internally, they are entrained by environmental stimuli, particularly the light-dark cycle. Measurement of the endogenous melatonin rhythm provides relatively reliable surrogate way of assessing the timing of the internal circadian clock. Also, core body temperature and cortisol can be used as markers of circadian rhythms. The sleep-wake cycle, body temperature, and melatonin rhythm have a stable internal phase relationship in humans and other diurnal species. They play an important role in controlling daily behavioral rhythms including task performance, blood pressure, and synthesis and secretion of several hormones. In this review, we address not only the properties, methods of measurement, and markers of circadian rhythms, but also the physiological and psychological importance of human circadian rhythms.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 2021

All living beings on earth have an important mechanism of 24-h periodicity, which controls their physiology, metabolism, and behavior. In humans, 24-h periodicity is regulated by the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN) through external and environmental cues. Peripheral organs demonstrate circadian rhythms and circadian clock functions, and these are also observed in cultured cell lines. Every cell contains a CLOCK: BMAL1 loop for the generation of circadian rhythms. In this review, we focused on cell autonomous circadian rhythms in immune cells, the inflammatory diseases caused by disruption of circadian rhythms in hormones, and the role of clock genes in inflammatory diseases.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.266-274
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• 1995

We invesigated whether the circadian rhythms of plasma MHPG and HVA concentrations exist in 11 healthy young adults, and analyzed the patterns of their circadian rhythms. The results were as follows : 1) The change in the mean plasma MHPG concentrations analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA was not statistically significant. Five subjects showed significant circadian rhythms of plasma MHPG concentrations of each individual, and 4 of those had the acrophases between 17PM and 24PM. 2) The change in the mean plasma HVA concentrations analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA was not statistically significant. Six subjects showed significant circadian rhythms of plasma HVA concentrations of each individual, and 4 of those had the acrophases between 21PM and 6AM. In conclusion, the circadian rhythm pattern of plasma HVA concentrations in our result is consistent with the previous study. It was suggested that plasma MHPG and HVA concentrations should be measured more frequently, and the physical activities of subjects be controlled more strictly for the following study.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.34-44
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• 1998

Living organisms are influenced by many external rhythms and they have adapted their physiology to periodically changing conditions. These adaptive strategies are controlled by endogenous innate programs of behavior and physiology which are determined by external signals ("Zeitgeber"). There are many biological rhythms, each with its own characteristic functional adaptation. Among them, the presence of endogenous time control of feeding and drinking becomes obvious. There are increasing evidences that the control of food intake, food selection, and drinking are regulated by the endogenous rhythms including a circadian rhythm. However, there have been many restrictions in understanding the endogenous control of food intake itself and its mechanism. To broaden our know ledges of the endogenous time control of feeding and drinking, the author reviwed the characteristics of the endogenous timing for food intake, the influence of circadian pacemakers and food-entrainable oscillators, the interaction between the circadian control and the external and internal conditions in the control of food intake, the conseqences of feeding, the circadian control of food selection, and the biological cycles in energy balance.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.249-251
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• 2002

The avian pineal as well as the retina has been known to contain several types of photoreceptors with different visual pigments such as rhodopsin, iodopsin and the pineal specific opsin, pinopsin. These organs are also known to have circadian clock to regulate melatonin production. Exposure of animals to light causes a decline of the melatonin level and the phase shifts of melatonin rhythms in the pineal and retina. Therefore, the circadian clock system of these organs seem to consist of three elements, i.e., light input, oscillator and melatonin output systems. In birds, it was suggested that rhodopsin might be involved in the entrainment of pineal melatonin rhythms from the action spectrum experiment for controlling NAT activity rhythms. However, there are much more pinopsin-immunoreactive (Pino-IR) cells than rhodopsin (Rho-IR) and iodopsin (Iodo-IR) cells in the avian pineal. We found that Pino-IR cells appeared earlier embryonic stages than Rho-IR and Iodo-IR cells. So, we tried to identify the visual pigments involved in the circadian melatonin rhythms in the pineal and retina. Organ cultured pineals were exposed to monochromatic light to find out which opsin participates in regulation of melatonin rhythms. The action spectra showed a peak at 475nm, suggesting that pinopsin is the major photopigment to regulate melatonin production in birds.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.301-312
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• 2019

Post-transcriptional regulation underlies the circadian control of gene expression and animal behaviors. However, the role of mRNA surveillance via the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway in circadian rhythms remains elusive. Here, we report that Drosophila NMD pathway acts in a subset of circadian pacemaker neurons to maintain robust 24 h rhythms of free-running locomotor activity. RNA interference-mediated depletion of key NMD factors in timeless-expressing clock cells decreased the amplitude of circadian locomotor behaviors. Transgenic manipulation of the NMD pathway in clock neurons expressing a neuropeptide PIGMENT-DISPERSING FACTOR (PDF) was sufficient to dampen or lengthen free-running locomotor rhythms. Confocal imaging of a transgenic NMD reporter revealed that arrhythmic Clock mutants exhibited stronger NMD activity in PDF-expressing neurons than wild-type. We further found that hypomorphic mutations in Suppressor with morphogenetic effect on genitalia 5 (Smg5) or Smg6 impaired circadian behaviors. These NMD mutants normally developed PDF-expressing clock neurons and displayed daily oscillations in the transcript levels of core clock genes. By contrast, the loss of Smg5 or Smg6 function affected the relative transcript levels of cAMP response element-binding protein B (CrebB) in an isoform-specific manner. Moreover, the overexpression of a transcriptional repressor form of CrebB rescued free-running locomotor rhythms in Smg5-depleted flies. These data demonstrate that CrebB is a rate-limiting substrate of the genetic NMD pathway important for the behavioral output of circadian clocks in Drosophila.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 1998

Circadian rhythms in subjective alertness, mood, and performance can be classified as psychological rhythm, compared with physiological rhythm such as body temperature and hormonal change. While in normal condition entrained by 24hr zeitgeber, subjective alertness would reach its maximum value around midday, subjective alertness would parallel body temperature rhythm with its peak at evening in non-entrained, free-running state. With desynchronization technique, subjective alertness rhythm is thought to be controlled by both temperature and sleep-wake rhythm oscillator. Circadian performance rhythms depend on the kind of task tested. It shows parallelism with body temperature rhythm when subjects are tested with simple, repetitive task. But when tested with tasks requiring complex verbal reasoning or immediate memory, subjects would perform them best at early morning, with performance decreasing as time of day advances. The desynchronization technique shows that circadian performance rhythm of simple, repetitive task is dependent on temperature oscillator but circadian performance rhythm of complex verbal reasoning is influenced by both temperature and sleep-wake rhythm oscillator or another independent oscillator. It would be worthwhile to compare psychological rhythm with hormonal change such as cortisol and melatonin. And more simple and time-saving method than desynchronization technique may facilitate the study of the mechanism underlying psychological rhythm.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.75-80
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• 2009

The cyclic environmental conditions brought about by the 24 h rotation of the earth have allowed the evolution of endogenous circadian clocks that control the temporal alignment of behaviour and physiology, including the uptake and processing of nutrients. Both metabolic and circadian regulatory systems are built upon a complex feedback network connecting centres of the central nervous system and different peripheral tissues. Emerging evidence suggests that circadian clock function is closely linked to metabolic homeostasis and that rhythm disruption can contribute to the development of metabolic disease. At the same time, metabolic processes feed back into the circadian clock, affecting clock gene expression and timing of behaviour. In this review, we summarize the experimental evidence for this bimodal interaction, with a focus on the molecular mechanisms mediating this exchange, and outline the implications for clock-based and metabolic diseases.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 2006

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.9-12
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• 2002

Circadian rhythms can be seen in a variety of physiological functions in insects. Light is a powerful zeitgeber not only synchronizing but also modulating the rhythm to adjust insect's temporal structure to seasonal changes in the environmental cycle. There are two general effects of the length of light phase within 24 hr light cycles on the circadian rhythms, i.e., the modulation of free-running period and the waveform. Since the photoperiodic modulation of the free-running period is induced even in the clock mutant flies, per$\^$s/, the free-running period is not fully determined genetically. In crickets, the ratio of activity (a) and rest phase (p) under the constant darkness (DD) is clearly dependent on the photoperiod under which they have been kept. When experienced the longer photoperiod it becomes smaller. The magnitude of change in a/p-ratio is dependent on the number of cycles they experienced. The neuronal activity of the optic lobe in DD shows the a/p-ratio changing with the preceding photoperiod. These data suggest that a single circadian pacemaker stores and maintains the photoperiodic information and that there is a system that accumulates the effects of single photoperiod to cause greater effects.