Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Monitoring Cell-autonomous Circadian Clock Rhythms of Gene Expression Using Luciferase Bioluminescence Reporters
Published on: September 27, 2012
Neuroendocrine rhythms
1Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, U.K.
Abstract:
Hormones are secreted with circhoral, circadian and seasonal periodicities. Circhoral pulsatility is a temporal code, many chronic and acute changes in neuroendocrine status being mediated by changes in the frequency of circhoral release. The identity of the neuronal circuits controlling circhoral release is not known. Circadian release of hormones occurs with a precise temporal order entrained to the light-dark cycle, synchronized to the activity/rest rhythm and generated by circadian oscillators, of which the suprachiasmatic nuclei are the most important. Seasonal rhythms are driven either by an endogenous circannual clock mechanism or by a process of photoperiodic time measurement which is dependent upon the duration of the nocturnal peak of the pineal hormone melatonin.
Related Concept Videos
Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation
Sleep-Wake Cycles
NREM Sleep
NREM sleep comprises four progressive stages that seamlessly merge:
An Overview of the Endocrine System
The endocrine system collaborates...
Structures of the Endocrine System
Regulation of Hormone Secretion
Humoral stimuli,...
Hormonal Regulation of the Menstrual Cycle
At puberty, GnRH begins a pulsatile release pattern, which triggers the anterior pituitary gland to secrete follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). The frequency and amplitude of GnRH pulses vary across the menstrual cycle, with faster pulses favoring LH release and slower pulses favoring FSH release.

