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A new study is set to change the current assumptions on how the brain functions.

Most living organisms carry a rhythm, a 24-hour beat in their cells. The rhythm is driven by the cycle of day and night, and in animals, this emerges from a tiny brain structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus.

According to a new study, the brain clock (regulating the production of certain proteins at specific time) itself is driven to some extent by metabolism, which is the production and flow of chemical energy in cells.

For the current study, researchers primarily looked into a phenomenon known as "redox" in tissues of the SCN from the brains of rats and mice.

Redox represents the energy changes of cellular metabolism, usually through the transfer of electrons. When a molecule gains one or more electrons, scientists call it a reduction; when it loses electrons, it is said to be oxidized. These redox reactions, researchers found, oscillate on a 24-hour cycle in the brain clock, opening and closing channels of communication in the brain cells, Medical Xpress reported.

"The language of the brain is electrical; it determines what kind of signals one part of the brain sends to the other cells in its tissue, as well as the other parts of the brain nearby," University of Illinois cell and developmental biology professor Martha Gillette, who led the study, said.

"The fundamental discovery here is that there is an intrinsic oscillation in metabolism in the clock region of the brain that takes place without external intervention. And this change in metabolism determines the excitable state of that part of the brain."

The findings of the current study alter the basic assumptions about how the brain works, Gillette feels.

"Basically, the idea has always been that metabolism is serving brain function. What we're showing is metabolism is part of brain function," she said. "Our study implies that changes in cellular metabolic state could be a cause, rather than a result, of neuronal activity."

The findings have been reported in the journal Science.