Table 1. Primer sequences were obtained for the relevant genes of interest from GenBank (except for the primers for the circadian study arm).

Collagen Type 1α	Sense Primer: 5′-GAACGGTCCACGATTGCATG-3′ Antisense Primer: 5′-GGCATGTTGCTAGGCACGAAG-3′ Annealing temp: 55°C	Expected Weight: 167 bp
TGF-ß1	Sense Primer: 5′-AAAATCAAGTGTGGAGCAAC-3′ Antisense Primer: 5′-CCACGTGGAGTTTGTTATCT-3′ Annealing temp: 59°C	Expected Weight: 224
αSMA	Sense Primer: 5′-ATCTGGCACCACTCTTTCTA-3′ Antisense Primer: 5′-GTACGTCCAGAGGCATAGAG-3′ Annealing temp: 59°C	Expected Weight: 191 bp
IL-6	Sense Primer: 5′-GTTTGGTAGCATCCATCATT-3′ Antisense Primer: 5′-TTCACAGAGGATACCACTCC-3′ Annealing temp: 55°C	Expected Weight: 203 bp
TNF-α	Sense Primer: 5′-CCCTTCATCTTCCTCCTTAT-3′ Antisense Primer: 5′-TCCAGCTGACTAAACATCCT-3′ Annealing temp: 55°C	Expected Weight: 220 bp
GAPDH	Sense Primer: 5′-CACAATTTCCATCCCAGACC-3′ Antisense Primer: 5′-GGGTGCAGCGAACTTTATTG-3′ Annealing temp: 60°C	Expected Weight: 93 bp
Clock	Cat. No: QT00197547. Annealing temp: 55°C	Qiagen
Period 1	Cat. No: QT00113337. Annealing temp: 55°C	Qiagen
Period 2	Cat. No: QT00198366. Annealing temp: 55°C	Qiagen
REV-ERB α	Cat. No: QT00164556. Annealing temp: 55°C	Qiagen
BMAL-1	Cat. No: QT00101647. Annealing temp: 55°C	Qiagen

The primer sequences were analyzed for optimum primers using Primer 3 Software. Ready-to-use Quantitect Primer Assays (Qiagen) were purchased for the circadian arm of the study. Each assay contains forward and reverse primers that are generated from the NCBI Reference Sequence database, optimised and bioinformatically validated.