Sex difference in daily rhythms of clock gene expression in the aged human cerebral cortex.

ABSTRACT: Studies using self-report and physiological markers of circadian rhythmicity have demonstrated sex differences in a number of circadian attributes including morningness-eveningness, entrained phase, and intrinsic period. However, these sex differences have not been examined at the level of the molecular clock and not in human cerebral cortex. The authors tested the hypothesis that there are detectable daily rhythms of clock gene expression in human cerebral cortex and that there are significant sex differences in the timing of these rhythms. The expression levels of 3 clock genes-PER2, PER3, and ARNTL1-were quantified in samples of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex from 490 deceased individuals in 2 cohort studies of older individuals, the Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging

SUBMITTER: Lim AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3774838 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature