| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The circadian rhythm in mammals is orchestrated by a central pacemaker in the brain, but most peripheral tissues contain their own intrinsic circadian oscillators. The circadian rhythm is a fundamental biological system in mammals involved in the regulation of various physiological functions such as behavior, cardiovascular functions and energy metabolism. Thus, it is important to understand the correlation between circadian oscillator and physiological functions in peripheral tissues. However, it is still difficult to investigate the molecular oscillator in primary culture cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we used a novel Tol2 transposon based <it>Dbp </it>promoter or <it>Bmal1 </it>promoter driven luciferase reporter vector system to detect and analyze the intrinsic molecular oscillator in primary culture cells (mouse embryonic fibroblasts, fetal bovine heart endothelial cells and rat astrocytes). The results showed circadian molecular oscillations in all examined primary culture cells. Moreover, the phase relationship between <it>Dbp </it>promoter driven and <it>Bmal1 </it>promoter driven molecular rhythms were almost anti-phase, which suggested that these reporters appropriately read-out the intrinsic cellular circadian clock.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate that gene transfer strategy using the Tol2 transposon system of a useful and safe non-viral vector is a powerful tool for investigating circadian rhythms in peripheral tissues.</p>
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