Cell discovery clues to body clock and beating jet lag

A University of Manchester team studied special cells which they say play an important role in regulating a person's body clock. The cells had been thought to be inactive during the day - but their research found the opposite is true. It is hoped the findings may also pave the way to combating sleep disorders triggered by body clock malfunctions. Professor Hugh Piggins, an expert in neuroscience at the university, said the research will allow a new approach to being able to tune our daily clock. Two cells The Manchester research turns on its head the idea that the brain keeps the body clock on track by firing more cells during daylight and very few during the night. "These impulses would travel around the brain, telling it what time of day it is. "What we've found is in fact that there are at least two types of cells in this part of the brain." These brain cells behave unlike any other cell seen so far, and contain a key gene - per1 - which allows them to sustain unusually high levels of "excitability". The cells becoming so "excited" that they seem quiet or even dead; but then later they calm down, recover and become normally active again. It is this activity which tells the human body when to be awake.