CIRCADIAN CYCLE

Khaled Al Raquib
Final Year, B.Sc. In Optometry
Faculty of Medicine, University of
Chittagong
 Circadian Cycle
 When light streams onto the retina, a cascade of
electro-chemical signals flow from the eyes to a
nuclear center within the hypothalamus
(Suprachaismatic nuclei, SCN).

 SCN is one of the body's two major biological clocks

 not only regulates hormones related to day/ night
cycle
 but orchestrates activities of many other internal
clocks.
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 SCN is not innervated.

 Body has over 100 clocks (in every organ and
tissue)
 All controlled by the body's two master clocks.
 1) SCN inside hypothalamus

2) Unidentified- regulates body temperature

and alertness
(location in brain?)
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 The suprachiasmatic nucleus of the

hypothalamus is directly dorsal to the optic
chiasma.

 It is responsible for mediating biological rhythms

known as circadian rhythms (literally ‘around-a-
day’ rhythms).
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 A number of physiological cycles including sleep
and body temperature revolve around a 24
hour cycle in normal circumstances.

 The timing of this cycle is partly intrinsic and

partly based on diurnal fluctuations in the
environment such as temperature and
illumination.
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 If a subject is locked in a room with constant

illumination his circadian rhythms will revert to
a 25 hour cycle.

 This cycle is the result of an intrinsic biological

clock which is located in the suprachiasmatic
nucleus of the hypothalamus.

 The suprachiasmatic nucleus receives a direct

projection from the retina.
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 If this nucleus is destroyed in experimental

animals the activities which were previously
strictly tied into regular cycles become almost
random.

 Thus, our circadian rhythms seem to be partly

intrinsic but partly based on environmental cues.
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 Chronobiologists divide clock into 3 areas:

 Ultradian rhythms- those shorter than a day

e.g., heart beat, breathing pattern, blink
rates

 Circadian rhythms- 24 hrs cycle, day/ night

cycle

 Infradian rhythms- cycle in intervals >24 hrs

– women's menstrual cycle
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 All cycles are governed by hormone

released by internal body clocks.

 If suprachiasmatic nucleus shut down by

blindness, sleep disturbance among
visually impaired will be higher than
normal incidence of sleep problem.
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 Circadian rhythm sleep disorders in persons who
are totally blind:
 Total blind prone to cyclic form of insomnia (non 24
hr sleep wake syndrome) because they lack photic
input to the circadian time keeping system.
 They have body rhythm – not necessarily
synchronized to 24 hr solar and social day.
 It is due to internal clock mechanism that runs
free- so that in and out of phase with day/ night
cycle.
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 Medication-
 set the master clock by the use of melatonin at
bedtime
 Also useful for blind children with sleep-rhythm
disorder
 Moderate exercise 
 SCN are connected to and stimulate the pineal
gland, which secretes hormone melatonin at
night
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 There is feedback loop that reset master

clock
 Eye is primary route by which mammalian
circadian system senses light.
 If optic nerve cut, lose their normal
circadian rhythm.
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 So retina must contain light sensitive proteins
other than traditional opsins.
 These are specified circadian photoreceptors,
Aziz Sancer (North Caroline University),
 Chemical in this receptor is made in retina and
skin.
 Thus skin and eyes affect the biological clocks of
human.
 No eyes with eyelids have more sleep problems
than with low vision or those with open eyes and
normal retina.
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 Brown University researchers have found a new cell
in the eye that acts as a photoreceptor – like a rod
or cone – and sets the body’s circadian clock.
 The new cell “an intrinsically photosensitive ganglion
cell.” also turns light energy directly into brain
signals. These signals govern the body’s 24-hour
clock.
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 This could explain why certain people who

are functionally blind due to retinal
degeneration continue to set their biological
clock according to the day/night cycle.
 The authors point to the chemical
melanopsin as the likely photo pigment in
these cells and traces their pathways to the
brain.