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Circadian system of mice integrates brief light stimuli

Circadian system of mice integrates brief light stimuli Abstract Light is the primary sensory stimulus that synchronizes or entrains the internal circadian rhythms of animals to the solar day. In mammals photic entrainment of the circadian pacemaker residing in the suprachiasmatic nuclei is due to the fact that light at certain times of day can phase shift the pacemaker. In this study we show that the circadian system of mice can integrate extremely brief, repeated photic stimuli to produce large phase shifts. A train of 2-ms light pulses delivered as one pulse every 5 or 60 s, with a total light duration of 120 ms, can cause phase shifts of several hours that endure for weeks. Single 2-ms pulses of light were ineffective. Thus these data reveal a property of the mammalian circadian clock: it can integrate and store latent sensory information in such a way that a series of extremely brief photic stimuli, each too small to cause a phase shift individually, together can cause a large and long-lasting change in behavior. phase shifts biological clock entrainment suprachiasmatic nuclei activity rhythms Footnotes Address for reprint requests: A. N. van den Pol, Dept. of Neurosurgery, Yale Medical School, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, CT 06520. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS-10174, NS-31573, and NS-34887), National Science Foundation, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked “ advertisement ” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. Copyright © 1998 the American Physiological Society http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology The American Physiological Society

Circadian system of mice integrates brief light stimuli

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Publisher
The American Physiological Society
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 the American Physiological Society
ISSN
0363-6119
eISSN
1522-1490
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Abstract

Abstract Light is the primary sensory stimulus that synchronizes or entrains the internal circadian rhythms of animals to the solar day. In mammals photic entrainment of the circadian pacemaker residing in the suprachiasmatic nuclei is due to the fact that light at certain times of day can phase shift the pacemaker. In this study we show that the circadian system of mice can integrate extremely brief, repeated photic stimuli to produce large phase shifts. A train of 2-ms light pulses delivered as one pulse every 5 or 60 s, with a total light duration of 120 ms, can cause phase shifts of several hours that endure for weeks. Single 2-ms pulses of light were ineffective. Thus these data reveal a property of the mammalian circadian clock: it can integrate and store latent sensory information in such a way that a series of extremely brief photic stimuli, each too small to cause a phase shift individually, together can cause a large and long-lasting change in behavior. phase shifts biological clock entrainment suprachiasmatic nuclei activity rhythms Footnotes Address for reprint requests: A. N. van den Pol, Dept. of Neurosurgery, Yale Medical School, 333 Cedar St., New Haven, CT 06520. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS-10174, NS-31573, and NS-34887), National Science Foundation, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked “ advertisement ” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. Copyright © 1998 the American Physiological Society

Journal

AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology – The American Physiological Society

Published: Aug 1, 1998

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