CLOCK and inflammation: The secretion of GCs is regulated by the circadian clock and the central nervous system, and it has been reported that the removal of circulating GCs by adrenalectomy (ADX) eliminates the transcription of clock-controlled genes (CCGs) involved in inflammation, indicating that circulating GCs may play a role in cochlear inflammation by regulating the expression of inflammation-related genes (Cederroth et al., 2019).