Hormone seasonality in medical records suggests circannual endocrine circuits.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 118(7)2021 02 16.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33531344
ABSTRACT
Hormones control the major biological functions of stress response, growth, metabolism, and reproduction. In animals, these hormones show pronounced seasonality, with different set-points for different seasons. In humans, the seasonality of these hormones remains unclear, due to a lack of datasets large enough to discern common patterns and cover all hormones. Here, we analyze an Israeli health record on 46 million person-years, including millions of hormone blood tests. We find clear seasonal patterns The effector hormones peak in winter-spring, whereas most of their upstream regulating pituitary hormones peak only months later, in summer. This delay of months is unexpected because known delays in the hormone circuits last hours. We explain the precise delays and amplitudes by proposing and testing a mechanism for the circannual clock The gland masses grow with a timescale of months due to trophic effects of the hormones, generating a feedback circuit with a natural frequency of about a year that can entrain to the seasons. Thus, humans may show coordinated seasonal set-points with a winter-spring peak in the growth, stress, metabolism, and reproduction axes.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Periodicidad
/
Estaciones del Año
/
Registros Médicos
/
Sistema Endocrino
/
Hormonas
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Año:
2021
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Israel