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Related Concept Videos

Intracellular Signaling Cascades01:24

Intracellular Signaling Cascades

Once a ligand binds to a receptor, the signal is transmitted through the membrane and into the cytoplasm. The continuation of a signal in this manner is called signal transduction. Signal transduction only occurs with cell-surface receptors, which cannot interact with most components of the cell, such as DNA. Only internal receptors can interact directly with DNA in the nucleus to initiate protein synthesis. When a ligand binds to its receptor, conformational changes occur that affect the...
Intracellular Signaling Cascades01:24

Intracellular Signaling Cascades

Once a ligand binds to a receptor, the signal is transmitted through the membrane and into the cytoplasm. The continuation of a signal in this manner is called signal transduction. Signal transduction only occurs with cell-surface receptors, which cannot interact with most components of the cell, such as DNA. Only internal receptors can interact directly with DNA in the nucleus to initiate protein synthesis. When a ligand binds to its receptor, conformational changes occur that affect the...
Amplifying Signals via Second Messengers01:15

Amplifying Signals via Second Messengers

Many receptor binding ligands are hydrophilic; they do not cross the cell membrane but bind to cell-surface receptors. Thus, their message must be relayed by second messengers present in the cell cytoplasm. There are several second messenger pathways, each with its own way of relaying information. For example, the G protein-coupled receptors can activate both phosphoinositol and cyclic AMP (cAMP) second messenger pathways. The phosphoinositol pathway is active when the receptor induces...
Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation02:19

Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation

The biological clock is involved in many aspects of regulating complex physiology in all animals. It was in 1935 when German zoologists, Hans Kalmus and Erwin Bünning, discovered the existence of circadian rhythm in Drosophila melanogaster. However, the internal molecular mechanisms behind the circadian clock remained a mystery until 1984, when Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young discovered the expression of the Per gene oscillating over a 24-hour cycle. In subsequent years,...
Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation02:19

Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation

The biological clock is involved in many aspects of regulating complex physiology in all animals. It was in 1935 when German zoologists, Hans Kalmus and Erwin Bünning, discovered the existence of circadian rhythm in Drosophila melanogaster. However, the internal molecular mechanisms behind the circadian clock remained a mystery until 1984, when Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young discovered the expression of the Per gene oscillating over a 24-hour cycle. In subsequent years,...
Interactions Between Signaling Pathways01:19

Interactions Between Signaling Pathways

Signaling cascades usually lack linearity. Multiple pathways interact and regulate one another, allowing cells to integrate and respond to diverse environmental stimuli.
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
Two distinct signaling pathways can converge on a single functional unit, which may either be a single protein or a complex of proteins. The response is either functionally distinct or synergistic between the two pathways but different from the response...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Synthesis of a Deuterated Standard for the Quantification of 2-Arachidonoylglycerol in Caenorhabditis elegans
14:25

Synthesis of a Deuterated Standard for the Quantification of 2-Arachidonoylglycerol in Caenorhabditis elegans

Published on: September 21, 2019

Endocannabinoid signalling: has it got rhythm?

Linda K Vaughn1, Gerene Denning, Kara L Stuhr

  • 1Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.

British Journal of Pharmacology
|July 2, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Endocannabinoid signalling influences daily rhythms and hibernation. Anandamide levels show a circadian rhythm in humans, and specific endocannabinoids change during hibernation in groundhogs.

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Oromucosal as an Alternative Method for Administration of Cannabis Products in Rodents
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Last Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Synthesis of a Deuterated Standard for the Quantification of 2-Arachidonoylglycerol in Caenorhabditis elegans
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Oromucosal as an Alternative Method for Administration of Cannabis Products in Rodents
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Oromucosal as an Alternative Method for Administration of Cannabis Products in Rodents

Published on: August 22, 2025

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Chronobiology
  • Endocrinology

Background:

  • Endogenous cannabinoid signalling plays a key role in fundamental physiological processes.
  • Terrestrial species have evolved adaptations to daily and seasonal environmental cycles, such as circadian rhythms and hibernation.
  • The endocannabinoid system's involvement in these adaptations is an area of ongoing research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review literature supporting the hypotheses that endocannabinoid signalling exhibits circadian rhythms, modulates circadian processes, and contributes to hibernation.
  • To present novel findings on endocannabinoid rhythms in humans and changes during hibernation in groundhogs.

Main Methods:

  • Human study: Measured plasma N-arachidonylethanolamine (anandamide) concentrations across a circadian cycle, assessing the impact of sleep deprivation.
  • Groundhog study: Analyzed plasma concentrations of various endocannabinoids and related lipids in summer versus hibernation (torpor) states.
  • Utilized liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for lipid analysis.

Main Results:

  • Human plasma anandamide exhibited a threefold higher concentration at waking compared to before sleep, a pattern disrupted by sleep deprivation.
  • In groundhogs, 2-arachidonoylglycerol was undetectable, and anandamide levels did not differ between summer and hibernation.
  • Hibernating groundhogs showed significantly lower oleoylethanolamide and significantly higher palmitoylethanolamide and 2-oleoylglycerol concentrations.

Conclusions:

  • Evidence supports a bidirectional relationship between endocannabinoid signalling and circadian processes.
  • Further investigation into the role of endocannabinoid signalling in the physiological adaptations of hibernation is warranted.
  • Endocannabinoid signalling represents a potential link between circadian biology and seasonal adaptations.