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Caffeine lengthens circadian rhythms in mice.
Hideaki Oike1, Masuko Kobori, Takahiro Suzuki
1Food Function Division, National Food Research Institute (NFRI), National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 2-1-12 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan. oike@affrc.go.jp
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
|June 21, 2011
Summary
Caffeine consumption lengthens the period of circadian rhythms in mammalian cells and delays their phase in vivo. This study demonstrates caffeine
Area of Science:
- Chronobiology
- Molecular Pharmacology
- Mammalian Physiology
Background:
- Caffeine is known to affect sleep patterns in various animals.
- Its impact on mammalian circadian clocks, however, remains largely unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of caffeine on mammalian circadian rhythms.
- To determine if caffeine influences the central circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).
Main Methods:
- Cultured mammalian cell lines (U2OS, NIH3T3) were treated with caffeine.
- Ex vivo mouse liver explants and brain slices containing the SCN were analyzed.
- In vivo studies involved chronic caffeine consumption in mice under different light-dark conditions.
Main Results:
- Caffeine exposure lengthened the circadian period in cultured cells and ex vivo liver explants.
- In brain slices, caffeine caused a phase delay in the SCN.
- Chronic caffeine consumption in vivo resulted in liver clock phase delay and lengthened circadian locomotor rhythms.
Conclusions:
- Caffeine demonstrably alters circadian clocks in mammalian cells.
- Caffeine affects circadian rhythms at cellular, ex vivo, and in vivo levels in mammals.
- These findings highlight caffeine's role in modulating mammalian circadian timing.
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