Biologists from The University of Manchester have explained for the
first time why having a good night’s sleep really could prepare us for the
rigours of the day ahead.
The study in mice and published in Nature Cell Biology, shows how the
body clock mechanism boosts our ability to maintain our bodies when we are most
active.
And because we
know the body clock is less precise as we age, the discovery, argues lead
author Professor Karl Kadler, may one day help unlock some of the mysteries of
aging.
The discovery
throws fascinating light on the body’s extracellular matrix -which provides
structural and biochemical support to cells in the form of connective tissue
such as bone, skin, tendon and cartilage.
Over half our
body weight is matrix, and half of this is collagen — and scientists have long
understood it is fully formed by the time we reach the age of 17.
But now the
researchers have discovered there are two types of fibrils — the rope-like
structures of collagen that are woven by the cells to form tissues.
Thicker fibrils
measuring about 200 nanometres in diameter — a million million times smaller
than a pinhead — are permanent and stay with us throughout our lives, unchanged
from the age of 17.
But thinner
fibrils measuring 50 nanometres, they find, are sacrificial, breaking as we
subject the body to the rigours of the day but replenishing when we rest at
night.
The collagen was
observed by mass spectrometry and the mouse fibrils were observed using state
of the art volumetric electron microscopy — funded by the Wellcome Trust —
every 4 hours over 2 days.
When the body
clock genes where knocked out in mice, the thin and thick fibrils were
amalgamated randomly.
“Collagen
provides the body with structure and is our most abundant protein, ensuring the
integrity, elasticity and strength of the body’s connective tissue,” said
Professor Kadler
“It’s intuitive
to think our matrix should be worn down by wear and tear, but it isn’t and now
we know why: our body clock makes an element which is sacrificial and can be replenished,
protecting the permanent parts of the matrix.
He added: “So if
you imagine the bricks in the walls of a room as the permanent part, the paint
on the walls could be seen as the sacrificial part which needs to be
replenished every so often.
“And just like
you need to oil a car and keep its radiator topped up with water, these thin
fibrils help maintain the body’s matrix.”
“Knowing this
could have implications on understanding our biology at its most fundamental
level. It might, for example, give us some deeper insight into how wounds heal,
or how we age.
Source: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/beauty-sleep-could-be-real-say-body-clock-biologists/
Journal article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-019-0441-z
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