Barca Mayo, OlgaLópez Pérez, Miguel A.2021-08-102021-08-102021Front. Endocrinol. 2021, 12:662017. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2021.662017http://hdl.handle.net/10347/26763The endogenous timekeeping system evolved to anticipate the time of the day through the 24 hours cycle of the Earth’s rotation. In mammals, the circadian clock governs rhythmic physiological and behavioral processes, including the daily oscillation in glucose metabolism, food intake, energy expenditure, and whole-body insulin sensitivity. The results from a series of studies have demonstrated that environmental or genetic alterations of the circadian cycle in humans and rodents are strongly associated with metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Emerging evidence suggests that astrocyte clocks have a crucial role in regulating molecular, physiological, and behavioral circadian rhythms such as glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Given the concurrent high prevalence of type 2 diabetes and circadian disruption, understanding the mechanisms underlying glucose homeostasis regulation by the circadian clock and its dysregulation may improve glycemic control. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the tight interconnection between the timekeeping system, glucose homeostasis, and insulin sensitivity. We focus specifically on the involvement of astrocyte clocks, at the organism, cellular, and molecular levels, in the regulation of glucose metabolismengCopyright © 2021 Barca-Mayo and López. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Atribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/AstrocytesCircadian clockMetabolismDiabetesGlucose homeostasisjournal article10.3389/fendo.2021.6620171664-2392open access