Research delves at the impact of the circadian rhythm on medication efficacy

April 29 :
The effects of circadian rhythms on medication metabolism were the focus of a study headed by MIT researcher Sangeeta Bhatia, who is of Indian descent. The study, which was published in Science Advances, explains how changing when you take your medication could drastically affect its efficacy.

Working with her team, Bhatia investigated the complex interplay between the liver's circadian cycles and its function; she is the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.

Researchers found that many genes involved in drug metabolism are controlled by the circadian rhythm using artificial micro livers made from donor cells. The body's ability to absorb and process medications is affected by these changes. For example, there are certain periods of the day when the enzymes that break down medications like Tylenol are at their peak activity.

An important but until undiscovered facet of drug metabolism is uncovered in this work. The senior author of the study, Bhatia, emphasises that their findings underscore the requirement of customised dosing schedules to maximise therapeutic advantages while minimising unpleasant effects.

In addition, the study unveiled how the circadian cycle affects the liver's vulnerability to infections like malaria. How well the liver fights infections varies throughout the day due to fluctuations in inflammatory responses.

"Our findings suggest that infections may exploit the liver's weakened defence mechanisms during certain periods, underscoring the importance of timing in disease susceptibility," Bhatia says.

This finding has far-reaching consequences for more than just medication metabolism. It opens the door to investigating infections that are very difficult to simulate in the lab. Researchers can improve infection rates in modified liver cultures by utilising circadian fluctuations. This would allow for easier medication screening for illnesses like malaria.

Several organisations contributed financially to the study. These included the French National Research Agency, the United States National Cancer Institute, and the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives MIT-France programme.