Some Monocytes Got Rhythm

摘要

The molecular mechanisms that control leukocyte migration to sites of inflammation have been a major focus of immunologists over the past 25 years. Recently, an additional dimension has been added to the physiological orchestration of leukocyte trafficking: time. On page 1483 in this issue, Nguyen et al. (1) describe a daily oscillation in monocytes present in different mouse tissues, in which there is an increase in number during the animal's time of rest and a decrease during the mouse's active phase. Moreover, this pattern of behavior is governed by a circa-dian gene in myeloid cells.