Research has shown that our organs are more or less active during the 24 hours
In a 24-hour day, our body functions fluctuate. Our knowledge of the deeply engraved biological clock is increasing, to the point that some doctors want to use it as a weapon against many diseases.
“There is a set of clocks in the body that are there to allow it to function optimally: we call this the circadian (circadian) system“, summarizes Claude Gronfiera researcher at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), France’s public research organization for human health.
Their existence is known. For decades, research has shown that our organs are more or less active during the 24-hour period. Our intestinal system, liver, heart tend to work harder at certain times, whatever the pace of meals or physical activity.
At the same time, the research carried out in animals and then in humans has shown that the rhythm is not just a response to the stimuli of the external world, such as the succession of day and night. It is recorded in our cells, starting with the neurons of the brain.
But if these investigations were advanced enough to merit a Nobel Prize in Medicine for three researchers in 2017, in recent years they have accelerated even more, mainly to show to what extent this clock is in the cells of our entire body.
“There are clocks in the liver, heart, lung, kidney, retina…”, lists Claude Gronfier.
Understanding pain
And we are now learning that these clocks have a variety of reactions. Research by Claude Gronfier published in the journal Brain allows us to conclude that pain perception varies in intensity over the course of 24 hours.
During the research, twelve people were isolated from almost all external stimuli for 36 hours and exposed every two hours to a thermal stimulus. A variation of the pain threshold was found depending on the hours.
According to the researcher, the conclusion is important for a better understanding of pain. One day we could achieve better pain management by taking into account its fluctuations during the day.
Claude Gronfier’s research is part of a wider school. For some researchers and doctors, we now know these rhythms well enough to use them as a tool against many diseases.
This is “chronotherapy” or “circadian (circadian) medicine”. According to its proponents, the applications are diverse, from oncology to cardiology and neurology.
In the case of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, for example, the dysregulation of the biological clock is well known. But it is now understood that it often precedes the symptoms and therefore could be an avoidable cause rather than a consequence.
Desetting the clock
However, more generally, “the practical application of this knowledge about the role of circadian clocks is still a challenge for the medical world,” researchers Ravi Allada and Joseph Bass warned last year in an analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
We lack techniques that would allow a doctor to easily diagnose the dysregulation of the biological clock and precisely advise a patient to change the rhythms of his life to avoid health problems.
Other applications may conflict with reality, such as the idea, enthusiastically defended by Claude Gronfier, of calculating the time to administer chemotherapy to a cancer patient using biological clock data.
“Let’s imagine that the test shows that the administration should take place between 22.00 and 08.00 in the morning: this would pose some organizational problems“, since chemotherapy is administered in hospital, warns oncologist Pierre Saintigny, referring to the burden on national health systems.
Consequently, it is necessary not only to prove the effect, but also that its effect “significantly affects the response to treatments and the survival of patients”, says the French oncologist who considers that studies on the subject are currently insufficient.
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