Brain cells only open the 'delivery gates' to their recycling centers at specific times of day, and missing this window causes insomnia.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
Peroxisomal import is circadian in glia and regulates sleep and lipid metabolism
bioRxiv · 2025.06.23.661129
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The Takeaway
Scientists discovered that peroxisomes (the cell's waste-processing units) follow a strict morning-only schedule in the brain. If this internal clock is disrupted, it leads to brain-wide metabolic issues that cause hyperactivity and chronic sleep loss.
From the abstract
Peroxisomes are critical organelles that detoxify cellular waste while also catabolizing and anabolizing lipids. How peroxisomes coordinate protein import and support metabolic functions across complex tissues and timescales remains poorly understood in vivo. Using the Drosophila brain, we discover a striking enrichment of peroxisomes in the neuronal soma and the cortex glia that enwrap them. Unexpectedly, import of peroxisomal proteins into cortex glia, but not neurons, oscillated across time a