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Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation02:19

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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,...
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Parallel Measurement of Circadian Clock Gene Expression and Hormone Secretion in Human Primary Cell Cultures
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Circadian rhythms in the fetus.

María Serón-Ferré1, Natalia Mendez, Lorena Abarzua-Catalan

  • 1Programa de Fisiopatología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad de Chile, Chile. mseron@med.uchile.cl

Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology
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The fetal circadian system differs from adult organization, with maternal signals entraining fetal oscillators. This internal temporal order prepares the fetus for integration into the newborn

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Area of Science:

  • Reproductive biology
  • Developmental biology
  • Chronobiology

Background:

  • Maternal factors like temperature and melatonin influence fetal development.
  • The fetus adapts to the maternal internal environment, developing for postnatal life.
  • Fetal organ function differs from adult function, including the developing circadian system.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the organization of the fetal circadian system.
  • To propose a model for fetal circadian rhythmicity and its maternal entrainment.
  • To understand the transition to a mature circadian system after birth.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review and synthesis of existing research on fetal circadian rhythms.
  • Analysis of maternal signals and their potential entrainment of fetal oscillators.
  • Conceptual modeling of fetal circadian organization.

Main Results:

  • The fetal circadian system is organized differently from the adult system.
  • Maternal signals entrain fetal suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and peripheral oscillators.
  • Fetal circadian rhythms are not merely immature versions of adult rhythms.

Conclusions:

  • The fetal SCN and organs act as peripheral maternal circadian oscillators.
  • This arrangement establishes internal temporal order during fetal development.
  • Postnatally, these scattered fetal clocks integrate into a mature, SCN-driven system.