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Scientists from University of Manchester have discovered special cells in the body that can help in combating jet lag. It was supposed that these cells are inactive during the day, but, the new study says the opposite.
According to Professor Hugh Piggins, lead researcher and neuroscience expert at the university, the research will let us adjust our daily clock. Researchers believe that the brain controls body clock by firing more cells during daylight and very few at night.
“The traditional model said the clock and the brain communicated to the rest of the brain via the number of electrical impulses that the brain cells were producing,” Piggins was quoted as saying.
“These impulses would travel around the brain, telling it what time of day it is.”
“What we have found is in fact that there are at least two types of cells in this part of the brain,” he added. These brain cells comprise a vital gene called per1 that lets them to maintain unusually high levels of ‘excitability’.
The cells are so ‘excited’ that they seem to be quiet or even dead. They calm down later, recover and are normally active again. This activity tells the body when to be awake.
“There’s a lot of interest in the pharmaceutical industry, obviously, to try to develop chemical treatments to reset your daily clock to help counteract things like jetlag,” said Piggins.
“Or, perhaps more importantly, different kind of sleep disorders for which dysfunctions in this clock are often involved,” he added.
