The circadian activity rhythms of rats with mid- and parasagittal 'split-SCN' knife cuts and pinealectomy

Hypotensive effects of melatonin in rats: Focus on the model, measurement, application, and main mechanisms

The hypotensive effects of melatonin are based on a negative correlation between melatonin levels and blood pressure in humans. However, there is a positive correlation in nocturnal animals that are often used as experimental models in cardiovascular research, and the hypotensive effects and mechanism of melatonin action are often investigated in rats and mice. In rats, the hypotensive effects of melatonin have been studied in normotensive and spontaneously or experimentally induced hypertensive strains. In experimental animals, blood pressure is often measured indirectly during the light (passive) phase of the day by tail-cuff plethysmography, which has limitations regarding data quality and animal well-being compared to telemetry. Melatonin is administered to rats in drinking water, subcutaneously, intraperitoneally, or microinjected into specific brain areas at different times. Experimental data show that the hypotensive effects of melatonin depend on the experimental animal model, blood pressure measurement technique, and the route, time and duration of melatonin administration. The hypotensive effects of melatonin may be mediated through specific membrane G-coupled receptors located in the heart and arteries. Due to melatonin's lipophilic nature, its potential hypotensive effects can interfere with various regulatory mechanisms, such as nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species production and activation of the autonomic nervous and circadian systems. Based on the research conducted on rats, the cardiovascular effects of melatonin are modulatory, delayed, and indirect.

The Functional and Clinical Significance of the 24-Hour Rhythm of Circulating Glucocorticoids

Adrenal glucocorticoids are major modulators of multiple functions, including energy metabolism, stress responses, immunity, and cognition. The endogenous secretion of glucocorticoids is normally characterized by a prominent and robust circadian (around 24 hours) oscillation, with a daily peak around the time of the habitual sleep-wake transition and minimal levels in the evening and early part of the night. It has long been recognized that this 24-hour rhythm partly reflects the activity of a master circadian pacemaker located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. In the past decade, secondary circadian clocks based on the same molecular machinery as the central master pacemaker were found in other brain areas as well as in most peripheral tissues, including the adrenal glands. Evidence is rapidly accumulating to indicate that misalignment between central and peripheral clocks has a host of adverse effects. The robust rhythm in circulating glucocorticoid levels has been recognized as a major internal synchronizer of the circadian system. The present review examines the scientific foundation of these novel advances and their implications for health and disease prevention and treatment.

The contribution of the pineal gland on daily rhythms and masking in diurnal grass rats, Arvicanthis niloticus

Melatonin is a hormone rhythmically secreted at night by the pineal gland in vertebrates. In diurnal mammals, melatonin is present during the inactive phase of the rest/activity cycle, and in primates it directly facilitates sleep and decreases body temperature. However, the role of the pineal gland for the promotion of sleep at night has not yet been studied in non-primate diurnal mammalian species. Here, the authors directly examined the hypothesis that the pineal gland contributes to diurnality in Nile grass rats by decreasing activity and increasing sleep at night, and that this could occur via effects on circadian mechanisms or masking, or both. Removing the pineal gland had no effect on the hourly distribution of activity across a 12:12 light-dark (LD) cycle or on the patterns of sleep-like behavior at night. Masking effects of light at night on activity were also not significantly different in pinealectomized and control grass rats, as 1h pulses of light stimulated increases in activity of sham and pinealectomized animals to a similar extent. In addition, the circadian regulation of activity was unaffected by the surgical condition of the animals. Our results suggest that the pineal gland does not contribute to diurnality in the grass rat, thus highlighting the complexity of temporal niche transitions. The current data raise interesting questions about how and why genetic and neural mechanisms linking melatonin to sleep regulatory systems might vary among mammals that reached a diurnal niche via parallel and independent pathways.

Keeping circadian time with hormones

Daily variations of metabolism, physiology and behaviour are controlled by a network of coupled circadian clocks, comprising a master clock in the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus and a multitude of secondary clocks in the brain and peripheral organs. Light cues synchronize the master clock that conveys temporal cues to other body clocks via neuronal and hormonal signals. Feeding at unusual times can reset the phase of most peripheral clocks. While the neuroendocrine aspect of circadian regulation has been underappreciated, this review aims at showing that the role of hormonal rhythms as internal time-givers is the rule rather than the exception. Adrenal glucocorticoids, pineal melatonin and adipocyte-derived leptin participate in internal synchronization (coupling) within the multi-oscillatory network. Furthermore, pancreatic insulin is involved in food synchronization of peripheral clocks, while stomach ghrelin provides temporal signals modulating behavioural anticipation of mealtime. Circadian desynchronization induced by shift work or chronic jet lag has harmful effects on metabolic regulation, thus favouring diabetes and obesity. Circadian deregulation of hormonal rhythms may participate in internal desynchronization and associated increase in metabolic risks. Conversely, adequate timing of endocrine therapies can promote phase-adjustment of the master clock (e.g. via melatonin agonists) and peripheral clocks (e.g. via glucocorticoid agonists).

Photic and pineal modulation of food anticipatory circadian activity rhythms in rodents

Restricted daily feeding schedules entrain circadian oscillators that generate food anticipatory activity (FAA) rhythms in nocturnal rodents. The location of food-entrainable oscillators (FEOs) necessary for FAA remains uncertain. The most common procedure for inducing circadian FAA is to limit food access to a few hours in the middle of the light period, when activity levels are normally low. Although light at night suppresses activity (negative masking) in nocturnal rodents, it does not prevent the expression of daytime FAA. Nonetheless, light could reduce the duration or magnitude of FAA. If so, then neural or genetic ablations designed to identify components of the food-entrainable circadian system could alter the expression of FAA by affecting behavioral responses to light. To assess the plausibility of light as a potential mediating variable in studies of FAA mechanisms, we quantified FAA in rats and mice alternately maintained in a standard full photoperiod (12h of light/day) and in a skeleton photoperiod (two 60 min light pulses simulating dawn and dusk). In both species, FAA was significantly and reversibly enhanced in the skeleton photoperiod compared to the full photoperiod. In a third experiment, FAA was found to be significantly attenuated in rats by pinealectomy, a procedure that has been reported to enhance some effects of light on behavioral circadian rhythms. These results indicate that procedures affecting behavioral responses to light can significantly alter the magnitude of food anticipatory rhythms in rodents.

Restricted daytime feeding attenuates reentrainment of the circadian melatonin rhythm after an 8-h phase advance of the light-dark cycle

It is well established that in the absence of photic cues, the circadian rhythms of rodents can be readily phase-shifted and entrained by various nonphotic stimuli that induce increased levels of locomotor activity (i.e., benzodiazepines, a new running wheel, and limited food access). In the presence of an entraining light-dark (LD) cycle, however, the entraining effects of nonphotic stimuli on (parts of) the circadian oscillator are far less clear. Yet, an interesting finding is that appropriately timed exercise after a phase shift can accelerate the entrainment of circadian rhythms to the new LD cycle in both rodents and humans. The present study investigated whether restricted daytime feeding (RF) (1) induces a phase shift of the melatonin rhythm under entrained LD conditions and (2) accelerates resynchronization of circadian rhythms after an 8-h phase advance. Animals were adapted to RF with 2-h food access at the projected time of the new dark onset. Before and at several time points after the 8-h phase advance, nocturnal melatonin profiles were measured in RF animals and animals on ad libitum feeding (AL). In LD-entrained conditions, RF did not cause any significant changes in the nocturnal melatonin profile as compared to AL. Unexpectedly, after the 8-h phase advance, RF animals resynchronized more slowly to the new LD cycle than AL animals. These results indicate that prior entrainment to a nonphotic stimulus such as RF may "phase lock" the circadian oscillator and in that way hinder resynchronization after a phase shift.

Suprachiasmatic pacemaker organization analyzed by viral transynaptic transport

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, the principal circadian pacemaker, is a paired structure with two subdivisions, a ventral core receiving photic input and a dorsal shell receiving non-photic input. Rhythmicity is thought to be generated by individual SCN neurons which are coupled to achieve synchrony [D.K. Welsh, D.E. Logothetis, M. Meister, S.M. Reppert, Individual neurons dissociated from rat suprachiasmatic nucleus express independently phased circadian firing patterns, Neuron, 14 (1995) 697-706]. Normally, the core and shell, and the nuclei on each side, act in unison to transmit rhythmicity to effector systems. It is not known how coupling between neurons in the two subdivisions, and between the two SCNs, takes place. In the present study, we analyze the intrinsic, commissural, and efferent projections of the SCN using the swine herpesvirus (pseudorabies virus, PRV) as a tool for transynaptic analysis of circuits and small iontophoretic injections of the conventional tracer horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated to fluorescein. We find that the core and shell each project through commissural efferents to homologous contralateral areas. The core projects densely to shell but we find little reciprocal innervation. The two subdivisions project to different hypothalamic areas, with the core projecting to the lateral subparaventricular zone and shell to the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus and medial subparaventricular zone. These data are the first demonstration that connections within the SCN, and from the SCN to effector regions, are topographically organized and lend insight into the flow of information through and out of the pacemaker.

Voluntary wheel running: a review and novel interpretation

Voluntary wheel running by animals is an activity that has been observed and recorded in great detail for almost a century. This review shows that it is performed, often with startling intensity and coordination, by a wide variety of wild, laboratory and domestic species with diverse evolutionary histories. However, despite the plethora of published studies on wheel running, there is considerable disagreement between many findings, thus leading to a lack of consensus on explanations of the causality and function. In the initial part of this review, I discuss the internal and external factors that may be involved in the causality of this behaviour, with an emphasis on disparities in both the factual and theoretical development of the subject. I then address the various proposed functions of wheel running, again highlighting evidence to the contrary. This leads to the conclusion that any single theory on the basis of wheel running is likely to be simplistic with little generality. I then present a novel, behaviour-based interpretation in which it is argued that wheel running has no directly analogous naturally occurring behaviour, it is (sometimes) performed for its own sake per se rather than as a redirected or substitute activity, and studies on motivation show that wheel running is self-reinforcing and perceived by animals as 'important'. This review proposes that wheel running may be an artefact of captive environments or of the running-wheel itself, possibly resulting from feedback dysfunction. I also discuss the ubiquity and intensity of its performance, along with its great plasticity and maladaptiveness, all indicating that if it is an artefact, it is nevertheless one of great interest to behavioural science. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Ultrastructural evidence for intra- and extranuclear projections of GABAergic neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus

GABAergic projections of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) were demonstrated in a double-labelling ultrastructural study which visualised the efferents of the SCN by PHA-L tracing, diaminobenzidine (DAB) immunocytochemistry, and GABA with immunogold postembedding staining. The results show a strong contralateral projection of the SCN that is partly GABA-containing. In addition, ipsilateral SCN projections to the dorsomedial hypothalamus and periventricular part of the paraventricular nucleus and sub-paraventricular nucleus were shown to contain GABA. The present results indicate that the SCN may utilize this inhibitory neurotransmitter to regulate and organize its own circadian rhythm as well as using GABA to transmit its diurnal information to other regions of the brain.

Age, but not pineal status, modulates circadian periodicity of golden hamsters

The pineal gland and its hormone, melatonin, have been implicated in the regulation of rat circadian rhythmicity. The present study was designed to evaluate whether the pineal has a similar role in the hamster, and to clarify whether the marked rhythm responses to constant light (LL) previously seen in serotonin-depleted hamsters might be attributable to a functional pinealectomy. The results demonstrated that young, but not old, hamsters showed loss of the circadian wheel-running rhythm (mostly via splitting) in LL, and that young hamsters had longer circadian periods in LL than old animals. Neither effect was related to the presence of a pineal gland. In LD 14:10 old animals ran much less than young animals, regardless of pineal status, and the suppression of running by LL was greater in old animals. The activity phase duration was only modestly related to age and not to pineal presence. The data support a previous report of an age effect on incidence of rhythm splitting and circadian period length, but do not support the view that the pineal gland helps modulate circadian rhythmicity in the hamster.

Efferent projections of the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

The efferent projections of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the golden hamster have been examined by using the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (Pha-L). SCN projections were further localized through a combination of restricted SCN-lesions and immunocytochemistry for three well-known peptidergic transmitters contained in SCN neurons, viz. vasopressin (VP), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP). Thus, major terminal fields of SCN-derived VP were detected in the medial preoptic nucleus, the anterior part of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVA), the medial parvicellular part of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), and the medial part of the dorsomedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (DMH). VIP-containing projections from the SCN were discovered in the PVA, anterior and dorsal parvicellular divisions of the PVN, subparaventricular area, and medial DMH. Efferent fibers from the SCN containing GRP were restricted to the subparaventricular area, medial DMH, and supraoptic nucleus. In addition, Pha-L tracing indicated the existence of SCN projections which could not be ascribed to one of the presently investigated peptides. Furthermore, a pronounced innervation of the contralateral SCN was observed, of which the neurotransmitter remains to be established. The results of the present study indicate that the different neuronal populations in the SCN, as characterized by their transmitter content, also show a clear diversity in their preferential target areas.

Disruption of circadian regulation by brain grafts that overexpress Alzheimer beta/A4 amyloid

Alzheimer disease patients exhibit irregularities in the patterns of normally circadian (daily) rhythms. Alzheimer-type pathology has been reported in the hypothalamus and in the suprachiasmatic nuclei, the putative site of the circadian oscillator. We examined the relationship between the neuropathology of Alzheimer disease, as modeled by an animal system, and circadian dysregulation by grafting genetically transformed cells that overexpress beta/A4 amyloid into the suprachiasmatic nuclei of adult rats. Grafts of beta/A4-positive cells, but not of control cells, significantly altered the pattern of activity of implanted rats. Although experimental conditions included light-dark cycles that normally tend to drive rats to 24-h rhythms, animals with grafts of beta/A4-positive cells showed abnormally high levels of activity during the light phase in addition to a disrupted circadian pattern. Periodogram analysis demonstrated significant rhythms outside of a circadian range. The body temperature rhythm of these animals was also weak 6 weeks after grafting; however, unlike activity patterns, body temperature regained a circadian period by 8 weeks after cell implantation. These data indicate that disruption of circadian activity is a behavioral measure of the consequences of beta/A4 accumulation in brain implants.

The pineal gland influences rat circadian activity rhythms in constant light

Mammalian circadian organization is believed to derive primarily from circadian oscillators within the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). The SCN drives circadian rhythms of a wide array of functions (e.g., locomotion, body temperature, and several endocrine processes, including the circadian secretion of the pineal hormone melatonin). In contrast to the situation in several species of reptiles and birds, there is an extensive literature reporting little or no effect of pinealectomy on mammalian circadian rhythms. However, recent research has indicated that the SCN and circadian systems of several mammalian species are highly sensitive to exogenous melatonin, raising the possibility that endogenous pineal hormone may provide feedback in the control of overt circadian rhythms. To determine the role of the pineal gland in rat circadian rhythms, the effects of pinealectomy on locomotor rhythms in constant light (LL) and constant darkness (DD) were studied. The results indicated that the circadian rhythms of pinealectomized rats but not sham-operated controls dissociated into multiple ultradian components in LL and recoupled into circadian patterns only after 12-21 days in DD. The data suggest that pineal feedback may modulate sensitivity to light and/or provide coupling among multiple circadian oscillators within the SCN.