Circadian Regulation of Metabolic Health from Molecular Mechanisms to Human Physiology
A Special Issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989) belonging to the section "Endocrinology and Clinical Metabolic Research".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2027 | Viewed by 161
Editors
Interests: circadian biology; skeletal muscle; exercise metabolism; multi-omics; ageing and metabolic health; chrono-exercise medicine
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Circadian rhythms are fundamental regulators of metabolic homeostasis, coordinating endocrine signalling, substrate utilisation, and energy balance across the 24-hour day. Disruption of these rhythms, through shift work, irregular sleep–wake cycles, or modern lifestyle factors, is increasingly recognised as a major contributor to metabolic dysfunction, including insulin resistance, obesity, and age-related disease.
At the same time, there is growing interest in targeting circadian biology to improve metabolic health. Behavioural and physiological interventions, including exercise, nutrition, and sleep timing, are emerging as key modulators of peripheral clocks and systemic metabolism in humans. However, important gaps remain in our understanding of how circadian timing influences metabolic regulation across molecular, cellular, and whole-body levels, and how these mechanisms can be translated into effective interventions.
This Special Issue aims to bring together mechanistic and translational research examining circadian regulation of metabolic health. We welcome studies spanning molecular and cellular biology through to integrative physiology and clinical investigation. Particular emphasis is placed on multi-omics approaches, including metabolomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics, to characterise time-of-day-dependent metabolic processes. Human studies investigating circadian misalignment, exercise timing, and metabolic outcomes are especially encouraged.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: circadian regulation of metabolism and endocrine function; skeletal muscle and peripheral clocks; temporal variation in responses to exercise and feeding; circadian disruption and metabolic disease; and novel methodologies for studying human circadian biology.
By bridging fundamental mechanisms with human physiology, this Special Issue seeks to advance understanding of how circadian biology can be leveraged to optimise metabolic health and inform precision lifestyle interventions.
Dr. Stuart J. Hesketh
Dr. Ben J. Edwards
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- circadian rhythms
- metabolic health
- endocrine regulation
- skeletal muscle
- exercise timing
- circadian misalignment
- metabolomics
- ageing
- human physiology
- energy balance
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