title: Ultradian rhythms in mammalian physiology and behavior.
abstract: Diverse mammalian ultradian rhythms (URs) with periods in the 1-6h range, are omnipresent at multiple levels of biological organization and of functional and adaptive significance. Specification of neuroendocrine substrates that generate URs remains elusive. The suprachiasmatic (SCN) and arcuate (ARC) nuclei of the rodent hypothalamus subserve several behavioral URs. Recently, in a major advance, dopaminergic signaling in striatal circuitry, likely at D2 receptors, has been implicated in behavioral and thermoregulatory URs of mice. We propose a neural network in which reciprocal communication among the SCN, the ARC and striatal dopaminergic circuitry modulates the period and waveform of behavioral and physiological URs.
authors: Department of Psychology and Institute for Mind and Biology, University of Chicago, 940 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: prendergast@uchicago.edu.
authors: Brian J
authors: BJ
authors: Prendergast
authors: Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 3210 Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 3060 Valley Life Science Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors: Irving
authors: I
authors: Zucker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001111:Arcuate Nucleus of Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000502:physiology; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D000071218:Ultradian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*