Adrenal glucocorticoids as a target for jet lag therapies

Abstract

When traveling across time zones, our physiological functions lose synchrony relative to the external day. The endogenous circadian clocks that usually prepare our body for times of eating, sleeping and other rhythmic behavioral and physiological processes become temporally disrupted. Owing to the fact that these clocks cannot immediately realign, we experience jet lag, which is characterized by multiple physiological and psychological symptoms. Despite recent advances in understanding circadian clock function and the mechanisms of jet lag, limited therapy is available at present for the treatment of disorders associated with long-distance travel. Recent studies demonstrate that adrenal glucocorticoids are central mediators of circadian clock re-entrainment and are themselves under circadian regulation. It is therefore attractive to consider glucocorticoid signaling as a promising target for therapeutic intervention in the treatment of jet lag.

Keywords::

• adrenal
• circadian clock
• clock genes
• desynchrony
• glucocorticoid
• HPA axis
• jet lag
• SCN
• therapy
• Zeitgeber

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank A Martinez-Hernandez for critical comments on the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Henrik Oster is listed as one of the inventors on a patent application regarding the usability of glucocorticoid rhythm-resetting substances in the treatment of jet lag. This work was supported by an integrated research grant (SFB 654) by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Henrik Oster is an Emmy Noether fellow of the DFG. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.