In mammals, behavioral and physiological processes display 24-h rhythms that are regulated by a circadian system. In the present study, we investigated the possibility that the expression of clock genes in peripheral leukocytes can be used to assess the circadian clock system. We found that Per1 and Per2 exhibit circadian oscillations in mRNA expression in mouse peripheral leukocytes. Furthermore, the rhythms of Per1 and Per2 mRNA expression in peripheral leukocytes are severely blunted in homozygous CryI/2 double-deficient mice that are known to have an abolished biological clock. We have examined the circadian expression of clock genes in human leukocytes and found that Per1 mRNA exhibits a robust circadian expression while Per2 and Bmall mRNA showed weak rhythm. These observations suggest that monitoring Per1 mRNA expression in human leukocytes may be useful for investigating the function of the circadian system in physiological and pathophysiological states. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.