Dysregulation of photic induction of Fos-related protein in the biological clock during experimental trypanosomiasis.
The mammalian suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus (SCN) serve as pacemaker for circadian rhythms and the immediate-early gene c-fos is known to be induced by photic stimulation in the SCN of rodents. We studied the induction of Fos-related protein following a light pulse in rats infected with Trypanosoma brucei. This parasite causes in humans African sleeping sickness, a neuropsychiatric syndrome that involves changes of endogenous biological rhythms. Fos-like immunoreactivity after photic stimulation was dramatically reduced in the SCN of trypanosome- infected rats during the subjective night. These findings indicate that the photic entrainment of the biological clock may be altered during the infection.
Peng
Z C
ZC
Institute of Anatomy and Histology, Medical Faculty, University of Verona, Italy.
Kristensson
K
K
Bentivoglio
M
M
D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000528:radiation effects; D016762:Genes, fos; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013493:Suprachiasmatic Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D014352:Trypanosomiasis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*
D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos