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Review
. 2023 Apr 14;24(8):7255.
doi: 10.3390/ijms24087255.

Disturbances of Hormonal Circadian Rhythms by Light Pollution

Michal Zeman  1 , Monika Okuliarova  1 , Valentina Sophia Rumanova  1
Affiliations
Review

Disturbances of Hormonal Circadian Rhythms by Light Pollution

Michal Zeman et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

The circadian rhythms evolved to anticipate and cope with cyclic changes in environmental conditions. This adaptive function is currently compromised by increasing levels of artificial light at night (ALAN), which can represent a risk for the development of diseases of civilisation. The causal links are not completely understood, and this featured review focuses on the chronodisruption of the neuroendocrine control of physiology and behaviour by dim ALAN. The published data indicate that low levels of ALAN (2-5 lux) can attenuate the molecular mechanisms generating circadian rhythms in the central oscillator, eliminate the rhythmic changes in dominant hormonal signals, such as melatonin, testosterone and vasopressin, and interfere with the circadian rhythm of the dominant glucocorticoid corticosterone in rodents. These changes are associated with a disturbed daily pattern of metabolic changes and behavioural rhythms in activity and food and water intake. The increasing levels of ALAN require the identification of the pathways mediating possible negative consequences on health to design effective mitigation strategies to eliminate or minimise the effects of light pollution.

Keywords: artificial light at night; corticosterone; melatonin; neuroendocrine system; testosterone; thyroid hormones; vasopressin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effects of dim ALAN on the acrophases of plasma hormones. Rats were either kept under control conditions (CTRL, grey, 12L:12D) or exposed to dim ALAN (blue, 12L:12DL) the entire night for two weeks. n.s. = not significant rhythm. ZT = Zeitgeber time. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. The Figure was created based on the results from [32].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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