Cellular Clocks in AVP Neurons of the SCN Are Critical for Interneuronal Coupling Regulating Circadian Behavior Rhythm

Mar 6, 2015Neuron

Cellular clocks in specific brain cells help coordinate daily behavior rhythms

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Abstract

Mice with a deletion of the Bmal1 gene specific to vasopressin-producing neurons displayed a marked lengthening in free-running period and activity time of behavior rhythms.

These mice reentrained faster than control mice after a sudden 8-hour shift in the light/dark cycle.
Circadian expression of genes related to cell communication was drastically reduced in the dorsal suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), where vasopressin neurons are dominant.
Dorsal SCN cells exhibited lower oscillation of the PER2::LUC protein with increased variability and longer periods.
Bmal1-dependent oscillators in vasopressin neurons may influence how the SCN network synchronizes morning and evening behavioral rhythms.

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The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the primary circadian pacemaker in mammals, is a network structure composed of multiple types of neurons. Here, we report that mice with a Bmal1 deletion specific to arginine vasopressin (AVP)-producing neurons showed marked lengthening in the free-running period and activity time of behavior rhythms. When exposed to an abrupt 8-hr advance of the light/dark cycle, these mice reentrained faster than control mice did. In these mice, the circadian expression of genes involved in intercellular communications, including Avp, Prokineticin 2, and Rgs16, was drastically reduced in the dorsal SCN, where AVP neurons predominate. In slices, dorsal SCN cells showed attenuated PER2::LUC oscillation with highly variable and lengthened periods. Thus, Bmal1-dependent oscillators of AVP neurons may modulate the coupling of the SCN network, eventually coupling morning and evening behavioral rhythms, by regulating expression of multiple factors important for the network property of these neurons.

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Cellular Clocks in AVP Neurons of the SCN Are Critical for Interneuronal Coupling Regulating Circadian Behavior Rhythm

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