Circadian rhythm disturbances are common in mental health disorders

Anxiety, autism, schizophrenia and Tourette syndrome each have their own unique characteristics, but linking these disorders and the larger A factor in most other psychiatric disorders is circadian rhythm disturbance

In a recent article in the Nature journal Translational Psychiatry, scientists hypothesized that chronic fatigue is a psychopathological factor shared by a wide range of psychiatric disorders, and the study of its molecular basis may be The key to unlocking better therapies and treatments

"Circadian rhythms play a fundamental role in all biological systems, from molecules to populations," said senior author Pierre Baldi, UCI Distinguished Professor of Computer Science

Lead author Amal Alachkar, a neuroscientist and professor in UCI's Department of Pharmacy, noted challenges in testing the team's hypothesis at the molecular level, but said the researchers did a thorough examination of the most common mental health disorders by peer-reviewed peer review.

"Signs of circadian disruption -- sleep problems -- are present in every disorder," Alachkar said

During each solar day, the circadian rhythm regulates our body's physiological activities and biological processes

Circadian rhythms are inherently sensitive to light/dark signals, so they are easily disrupted by light at night, and the extent of disruption appears to be sex-related and change with age

"An intriguing question that we explored is the interaction of circadian rhythms and psychiatric disorders with sexuality," said Bardi, director of UCI's Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics

Age is also an important factor, as CRD, in addition to causing age-related psychiatric disorders in older adults, also affects neurodevelopment early in life, according to the scientists

Baldi said an important unanswered question centers on the causal relationship between CRD and mental health disorders: Is CRD a key factor in the origin and pathogenesis of these disorders or is it a self-reinforcing symptom in disease progression?

To answer this and other questions, the Uci-led team proposes examining CRD at the molecular level using transcriptomic (gene expression) and metabolomic techniques in mouse models

"This will be a high-throughput process, with researchers taking samples from healthy and diseased subjects every few hours along the circadian cycle," Baldi said

He added that if experiments on age, sex and brain regions were conducted in a systematic manner to investigate circadian molecules before and during disease progression, it would help the mental health research community to identify potential biomarkers, causality Relationships and new therapeutic targets and pathways

The project involves scientists from UCI's Department of Pharmacy, Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Department of Computer Science, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics; and UCLA Oppenheimer Stress and Recovery Center for Force Neurobiology and Goodman-Ruskin Microbiome Center

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