Influence of lithium chloride on dexamethasone exposure of male and female derived muBMSCs. Confluent, quiescent cultures of muBMSCs isolated from male (left panel) and female (right panel) C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 1 μM dexamethasone for 2 hrs in the absence (diamond symbol) or continuous presence (square symbol) of 20 mM lithium chloride and subsequently harvested at 4 hr intervals for isolation of total RNA. Real time PCR analysis was performed to examine expression of mRNAs bmal1, DBP, Per3, Rev-erb α., and Rev-erb β, all normalized relative to the control, cyclophilin B. Assays were preformed in triplicate and represent the mean ± S.D. Calculation of mean acrophase of gene expression. The acrophase is expressed in Circadian Time hours and a single acrophase is displayed following dexamethasone synchronization in the absence (triangle facing up) or presence (triangle facing down) of LiCl. The mean shift is the difference calculated between the acrophase in the absence and presence of LiCl.