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Skin Cells' Internal Clocks can Reveal If You are Early or Later Riser
January 29, 2008 at 6:55 PM
Research News
A new study, led by Steven A. Brown of the Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, has discovered that a person's waking habits are mirrored by body cells that are equipped with their own daily alarm clocks.
Brown said that the finding represents the first internal look at the biological clocks of those suffering from sleeping disorders.
"One of the big surprises was that so much of our daily behavior was genetically encoded. The idea that skin cells are telling us anything about our behavior was, for me, quite fascinating," Brown said.
The study investigated the circadian rhythm, the brain-controlled phenomenon that governs various body functions over a 24-hour period, of extreme late and early risers.
In the study, the researchers recruited suitable volunteers using TV advertisements shown between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.
"We got both our early types and our late types that way. Some had not yet gone to bed, while others were already up, Brown said.
Skin cells taken from the volunteers were cultured in the lab and injected with a bioluminescence gene found in fireflies.
These altered cells lit up or dimmed according to an individuals sleeping patterns. The study found that cells belonging to habitual larks glowed for the shortest period, while those of night owls glowed the longest.
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