Science Blog, Jan. 21, 2012 New research at Oregon State
University provides evidence for the first time that disruption
of circadian rhythms – the biological “clocks” found in many
animals – can clearly cause accelerated neurodegeneration, loss
of motor function and premature death. The study was published
in Neurobiology of Disease and done by researchers at OSU and
Oregon Health and Science University. Prior to this, it wasn’t
clear which came first – whether the disruption of biological
clock mechanisms was the cause or the result of
neurodegeneration. The decline and loss of clock function may be
just the beginning of a damaging, circular process, said Jadwiga
Giebultowicz, an OSU professor of zoology, member of the OSU
Center for Healthy Aging Research and project leader. “When the
biological clock begins to fail, rhythms that regulate cell
function and health get disrupted, and we now know that this
predisposes the brain to neurodegeneration,” Giebultowicz said.
“But that neurodegeneration, in turn, ma