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Updated: May 10, 2026

Monitoring Circadian Oscillations with a Bioluminescence Reporter in Organoids
Published on: February 16, 2024
Dexamethasone induces high-amplitude rhythms in preadipocytes, but hinders circadian expression in differentiated
Maayan Barnea1, Zecharia Madar, Oren Froy
1Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
Abstract:
Glucocorticoids induce circadian gene expression in cultured cells and change the phase of circadian gene expression in vivo. In addition, glucocorticoids induce differentiation of preadipocyte to adipocytes. We set out to test the effect of dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid receptor agonist, on circadian rhythms in 3T3-L1 differentiated adipocytes. Our results show that differentiated adipocytes exhibit robust circadian rhythms without dexamethasone. Dexamethasone induces phase changes and increases the amplitude of circadian gene expression in nondifferentiated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. However, dexamethasone had an opposite effect on differentiated adipocytes, leading to low-amplitude circadian expression. In conclusion, although glucocorticoids reset circadian rhythms, once rhythms are reset, glucocorticoid administration hinders circadian expression.
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