Circadian rhythms and osteoarthritis

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130611204534.htm
cartilage tissue in older mice they found that the tissue’s body clock was 40% weaker than in younger mice. This suggested that clock deterioration could contribute to an increased risk of developing osteoarthritis in later life. The researchers then looked at cartilage cells affected by damage similar to osteoarthritis and found that components of the body clock are altered during the early stages of the disease.  

the researchers tested what would happen to cartilage tissue in mice and human cartilage cells if they imposed an artificial rhythm mimicking daily changes of body temperature. By raising the temperature by two degrees at 12 hour intervals they found that after three applications the body clock in the cells had been reset and was working in a more robust state. This change lasted for between five and seven days even after the temperature cycles were removed. 

By imposing a rhythm to boost the internal rhythm in cartilage, our data suggests the aged cartilage clock might be re-tuned. This could be done using systemic approaches such as scheduled exercise, restricted meal times or by targeting the joint itself with scheduled warming and cooling. We believe imposing a rhythm could have a significant impact on the future management of joint diseases and with further study it could relieve sufferers’ symptoms.

This ground breaking research also suggests that taking drug treatments for joint diseases according to the cartilage clock time could increase their effectiveness, which would allow a lower dosage and consequently reduce side effects.

"Mounting evidence suggests that disruption to body clocks by changes like shift work or jet lag contribute to a number of conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and mood disorders. Our next step is to test our theory that body clock disruption also contributes to osteoarthritis."