Quiescence on track

Poorti Kathpalia

The diurnal rhythm of mammalian life
Governs far more than our sleep and our strife
Proliferating cells wherein this process is scarce
Daylight brings hope for essential repairs

Darkness releases sweet melatonin
(Do not confuse it for your skin melanin)
Thwarting division of stems in the brain
What happens next has ions to ‘blame’

The dancing of calcium ions within
Governs much more than cell signalling
Moving from the ER to the cytosol and back
The waves that ensue keep quiescence on track

Just like the leaves fall with the seasons
And the tides shift to low as the pull weakens
So too do the motions of this neural tale
Albeit across a far shorter time scale

The Science

There are cells in the adult brain, which are known as neural stem cells, that have the capacity to divide and form new neurons. The function of these stem cells is implicated in learning and repair processes inside the brain. It is known that there are external environmental factors like exercise that can influence their division, hence the reason why exercise is good for our brain. This poem, ‘Quiescence on track’, talks about what causes these neural stem cells to come out of their state of quiescence or non-proliferation to proliferation. A recently published piece of research showed that the diurnal rhythm can affect this neural stem cell division, where the researchers studied the division process in mice that moved freely during the experimentation. They found that daytime activated this division of neural stem cells and darkness inhibited it. The underlying mechanism of this phenomenon was the release of melatonin that occurs during darkness and is thus responsible for the inhibition of neural stem cell divison.

The Poet

Poorti Kathpalia is a science communicator and a teacher. She did her PhD in Neurobiology and thereafter started to teach Biochemistry to undergraduates. It was during her lessons and interaction with young minds that she found her true calling in communicating science through words and verses. Her work can be read on her blog ‘Science Bagels’. Presently, she organises science outreach events at CSIR-IGIB for schools and colleges, initiating a dialogue between scientists and students.

Next poem: Rhythm setter by Rose Edmondson