Changing dosing times reduces interferon's disruption of the body clock

Interferon-alpha disrupts the rhythms of locomotor activity, body temperature, and clock-gene expression.

• Repetitive administration of interferon-alpha negatively affects the rhythmicity of clock genes.
• Changes in clock-gene mRNA expression were observed in both peripheral tissues and the suprachiasmatic nuclei.
• The photic induction of the Per gene in the suprachiasmatic nuclei was disturbed by interferon-alpha.
• Optimizing the dosing schedule may help minimize adverse effects related to clock function disruption.

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