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  • Review Article
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Circadian clock control of endocrine factors

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 10, pages 466–475 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Various endocrine factors are known to exhibit time-of-day-dependent oscillations in both humans and animals

  • Endocrine factor rhythms are driven not only by environmental and behavioural influences, but also by intrinsic circadian clocks

  • Circadian dyssynchrony is associated with multiple pathologic states, including cardiometabolic diseases and cancer

  • Reinstatement of circadian synchrony through time-of-day-restricted feeding and pharmacologic strategies improves metabolic homeostasis

Abstract

Organisms experience dramatic fluctuations in demands and stresses over the course of the day. In order to maintain biological processes within physiological boundaries, mechanisms have evolved for anticipation of, and adaptation to, these daily fluctuations. Endocrine factors have an integral role in homeostasis. Not only do circulating levels of various endocrine factors oscillate over the 24 h period, but so too does responsiveness of target tissues to these signals or stimuli. Emerging evidence suggests that these daily endocrine oscillations do not occur solely in response to behavioural fluctuations associated with sleep–wake and feeding–fasting cycles, but are orchestrated by an intrinsic timekeeping mechanism known as the circadian clock. Disruption of circadian clocks by genetic and/or environmental factors seems to precipitate numerous common disorders, including the metabolic syndrome and cancer. Collectively, these observations suggest that strategies designed to realign normal circadian rhythmicities hold potential for the treatment of various endocrine-related disorders.

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Figure 1: The time of day at which circulating levels of key endocrine factors peak in humans.
Figure 2: Central and peripheral circadian clock control of endocrine factors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL-074259, HL-106199 and HL-107709 to M.E.Y.), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK-58259 to S.J.F.), the US Department of Veterans Affairs (Merit Review Award to S.J.F.), and the Neurological Disease and Stroke Institute (NS082413 to K.L.G.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Behavioural Neurobiology, Department of Psychiatry, Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 703 19th Street South, Birmingham, 35294, AL, USA

    Karen L. Gamble

  2. Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Diabetes and Metabolism, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 703 19th Street South, Birmingham, 35294, AL, USA

    Ryan Berry & Stuart J. Frank

  3. Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 703 19th Street South, Birmingham, 35294, AL, USA

    Martin E. Young

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All authors researched data for the article, provided a substantial contribution to discussions of the content, wrote the article and reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Martin E. Young.

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Gamble, K., Berry, R., Frank, S. et al. Circadian clock control of endocrine factors. Nat Rev Endocrinol 10, 466–475 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2014.78

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