Abstract

CHRONOPHARMACOLOGY; PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS

Silpa Vijayan* and Dr. Silvia Navis

Abstract

Biological clocks and circadian rhythm Biological rhythms are innately determined rhythmic biological process or function. Circadian rhythms These are particularly important in medicine. Physiological day is about 25 hours where the clock is reset daily by the environment night day social schedules. Daily oscillations in abundance of proteins necessary for either drug absorption or metabolism result in circadian pharmacokinetics; and oscillations in the physiological systems targeted by these drugs result in circadian pharmacodynamics. These clocks are present in most cells of the body, but organized in hierarchical fashion. Interestingly, some aspects of physiology and behavior are controlled directly via a ―master clock‖ in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus, while others are controlled by ―slave‖ oscillators in separate brain regions or body tissues. Recent research shows that these clocks can respond to different cues, and thereby show different phase relationships. Therefore, full prediction of chronopharmacology in pathological contexts will likely require a systems biology approach considering ―chrono-interactions‖ among different clock-regulated systems.

Keywords: Chronopharmacology, suprachiasmatic nucleus, hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal axis, serotonergic system.