Clock Gene Expression in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus of Hibernating Arctic Ground Squirrels

Apr 29, 2017Journal of biological rhythms

Daily Rhythm Gene Activity in the Brain's Internal Clock of Hibernating Arctic Ground Squirrels

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Abstract

Arctic ground squirrels show no circadian rhythms in specific clock proteins during hibernation in constant darkness.

Before entering hibernation, arctic ground squirrels exhibited significant daily rhythms in body temperature and protein expression levels of PER1 and PER2.
During the first torpor bout in constant darkness, no circadian oscillations were observed in the expression of PER1, PER2, or the neural activity marker c-FOS.
In the first spontaneous arousal interval, c-FOS expression increased only when body temperature reached 20°C.
PER1 and PER2 expression did not change with body temperature or time during arousal.
These findings indicate that the central circadian clock may cease functioning during hibernation in arctic ground squirrels.

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Most organisms have a circadian system, entrained to daily light-dark cycles, that regulates 24-h rhythms of physiology and behavior. It is unclear, however, how circadian systems function in animals that exhibit seasonal metabolic suppression, particularly when this coincides with the long-term absence of a day-night cycle. The arctic ground squirrel, Urocytellus parryii, is a medium-sized, semi-fossorial rodent that appears above-ground daily during its short active season in spring and summer before re-entering a constantly dark burrow for 6 to 9 months of hibernation. This hibernation consists of multiple week-long torpor bouts interrupted by short (< 20 h) arousal intervals when metabolism and body temperature (Tb) return to normal levels. Here, we used immunohistochemistry to measure the expression of daily or circadian rhythms of the protein products of 3 circadian clock genes, PER1, PER2, BMAL1, and the neural activity marker c-FOS in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of arctic ground squirrels before, during, and after the first torpor bout of hibernation. Before torpor, while under 12:12-h light:dark conditions, animals showed significant daily rhythms in their Tb, as well as in protein expression levels of PER1 and PER2, but not BMAL1. Upon entering first torpor (Tb < 30°C), animals were moved into constant darkness. When sampled at 6-h intervals-beginning 24 h after the last light out, with Tb 3°C to 4°C-there were no circadian oscillations in PER1, PER2, or c-FOS expression. Sampling across 24 h during the first spontaneous arousal interval, c-FOS expression was elevated only when Tb reached 20°C and PER1 and PER2 expression did not show any Tb- or time-dependent changes. These results suggest that the central circadian clock might have stopped functioning during hibernation in this species, and the timing of arousal from torpor in arctic ground squirrels is unlikely to be controlled by the circadian clock within the SCN.

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Clock Gene Expression in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus of Hibernating Arctic Ground Squirrels

Abstract

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