title: A circadian oscillator in cultured cells of chicken pineal gland.
abstract: The activity of serotonin N-acetyltransferase, the key enzyme of melatonin synthesis, shows a marked circadian rhythm in the pineal glands of various animal species. The regulation mechanism of the N-acetyltransferse rhythm in birds is different from that in mammals. N-Acetyltransferase activity in rat pineal gland is controlled by the central nervous system through the sympathetic nerves from the superior cervical ganglion, while in chicken the endogenous oscillator for N-acetyltransferase rhythm is presumably located in the pineal gland. Recently it has been shown that N-acetyltransferase activity oscillates in a circadian manner in the organ culture of chicken pineal glands. When chicken pineal glands were organ-cultured under continuous illumination, the nocturnal increase of enzyme activity was suppressed. These observations suggested that chicken pineal gland contains a circadian oscillator, a photoreceptor and melatonin-synthesising machinery. A central question arises whether the circadian oscillation of N-acetyltransferase activity and its response to environmental lighting are generated within the cell or are emergent properties of interaction between different types of pineal cells. I report here that in the dispersed cell culture of chicken pineal gland, N-acetyltransferase activity exhibits a circadian rhythm and responds to environmental lighting in the same manner as in the organ culture.
mesh_terms: D000123:Acetyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001191:Arylamine N-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002645:Chickens; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003470:Culture Media; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D000123:Acetyltransferases; D001191:Arylamine N-Acetyltransferase