Avoid injuries during the night!

Biological clocks govern all the body's biological functions, including meal times, which must be taken at precise times to ensure proper digestion, and sleep. A recent article has shown that there are also schedules to avoid if you want to injure yourself!

A 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲 triggers a 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬, with stem cells replacing damaged cells with new muscle cells. Prior to this, 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 intervene to eliminate cellular debris and promote stem cell activation. Finally, several days later, there is a 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 during which muscle fibers are realigned, scar tissue is refined, and mechanical properties are restored.

A study recently published in 𝑆𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 in mice analyzed 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 to injuries occurring at 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲, which is the resting phase in mice since this animal is 𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥. Gene expression is regulated according to the time of day or night. In response to injury at different times, 88 genes had 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞-𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, including 𝐶𝑑𝑓1 and 𝑀𝑘𝑖67, which are involved in 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. This was also the case for 𝐶𝑐𝑙2, which is involved in the 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞. Indeed, when injuries occurred during the mice's resting period, the activation of these two genes 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, and thus the replacement of damaged cells 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝.

These findings raise 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 about the conditions in which 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬 are disrupted and 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐲𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, such as obesity, diabetes, and aging.