Characterization of melatonin-induced fos-like immunoreactivity in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus of the rat.
The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is primarily responsible for the regulation of circadian rhythmicity. Melatonin, the pineal-derived neurohormone, modulates the rhythmic output of the SCN. Property timed exposure to melatonin is able to induce changes in rhythmic function and thereby entrain circadian rhythms of activity. c-fos is an immediate early gene that is transiently expressed in neurons in response to receptor activation. The ventrolateral portion of the SCN (vSCN) is activated in response to phase-shifting stimuli, an event which is marked by an increase in the expression of c-fos.
Mullins
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Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Neuroscience Drug Discovery, Connecticut 06492, USA.
Gianutsos
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Eison
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D000818:Animals; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D016762:Genes, fos; D007032:Hypothalamus, Anterior / Q000502:physiology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000819:agonists / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013493:Suprachiasmatic Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*
D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; C044556:2-iodomelatonin; D008550:Melatonin