The Different Instruments: The Peripheral Clocks
Although each musician, analogous to each organism cell, is able to read and play a musical score autonomously, every group of instruments, such as woodwind, brass, percussion, string and keyboards, has a principal who is generally responsible for leading the group and playing orchestral 'solos'. Peripheral oscillators described in the heart, adipose tissue, adrenal glands, lungs and vascular smooth muscle are the instrumental groups in the circadian orchestra (Figure 1), and although in some circumstances they can oscillate autonomously (solo), usually they must maintain a faithful following of the director's instruction.
In order to maintain the synchronization of different groups of instruments, the director uses his arms and baton movements. Similarly, the SCN uses neural, via sympathetic and parasympathetic selective activation, and humoral mediators such as melatonin, prokineticine 2, TGF-α (TNF-α) and nocturnin.[17,18]
Finally, the difference between being excited by the Handel's Messiah (circadian healthy status) and being irritated by a squeaky noise (chronodisruption [CD]) depends only on whether sounds and silences of each group of instruments are ordered accurately by the orchestra director.
Clin Lipidology. 2010;5(2):181-188. © 2010 Future Medicine Ltd.
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