Food-entrained circadian rhythms in rats are insensitive to deuterium oxide.
Rats anticipate a scheduled daily meal by entrainment of a circadian pacemaker separate from the light-entrainable circadian pacemaker located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). The site and molecular mechanisms of the food-entrainable pacemaker are unknown. The intrinsic period (tau) of the SCN pacemaker is significantly lengthened by deuteriation. Sensitivity of food-entrained circadian rhythms to D(2)O (25% in drinking water) was evaluated in intact and SCN-ablated rats entrained to daily feeding schedules. In intact rats fed ad-libitum, D(2)O lengthened tau sufficiently to drive activity rhythms out of entrainment to the light-dark cycle. By contrast, food-entrained rhythms were surprisingly resistant to modulation by D(2)O. The mean daily onset time of food anticipatory activity in rats with complete SCN-ablations was not affected by up to 28 days of D(2)O intake. Transient delays and disruption of anticipatory activity were evident in intact and one partial SCN-ablated rat during D(2)O treatment, but these are interpretable as effects of coupling and/or masking interactions between a D(2)O-sensitive light-entrainable pacemaker, and a D(2)O-resistant food-entrained pacemaker. Differential sensitivity to D(2)O suggests diversity in the molecular mechanisms of food- and light-entrainable circadian pacemakers in mammals. D(2)O may have utility as a screening test to identify putative food-entrainable pacemakers from among those central and peripheral tissues that can express circadian oscillations of clock genes independent of the SCN.
Mistlberger
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RE
Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada. mistlber@sfu.ca
Marchant
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EG
Kippin
T E
TE
D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D056926:CLOCK Proteins; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D017666:Deuterium Oxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005526:Food, Formulated; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013493:Suprachiasmatic Nucleus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
D015534:Trans-Activators; D056926:CLOCK Proteins; C538945:Clock protein, rat; D017666:Deuterium Oxide