NeuroscienceOct 28, 2006

Limited food access, but not sweet or salty tastes, aligns daily rhythms of a key protein in emotion and memory areas

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 6, 2026

Abstract

Restricted feeding schedules can synchronize PER2 gene expression rhythms in specific brain areas, peaking 12 hours after food access.

Restricted feeding modifies the rhythms of the clock protein PER2 in the central and basolateral nuclei of the amygdala and in the dentate gyrus.
Synchronization of PER2 expression occurs in these areas following scheduled food access.
Limited access to rewarding substances like sucrose or saccharine does not affect PER2 rhythms if there is no food deprivation.
The findings suggest that the rhythms of PER2 in certain brain structures respond to metabolic states linked to scheduled feeding.

Simplified

Restricted feeding schedules (RF) in which daily access to food is limited to a few hours each day can entrain the rhythms of expression of circadian clock genes in the brain and periphery in rodents. The critical factors mediating the effect of RF on rhythms of clock gene expression are unknown. Previously, we demonstrated that daytime RF shifts the phase of expression of the clock protein, Period2 (PER2) in the oval nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in rats kept on a 12-h light/dark cycle, and restored the rhythm of PER2 expression in rats housed in constant light. We now report that RF also modifies the rhythms of PER2 expression in the central and basolateral nuclei of the amygdala and in the dentate gyrus, such that all three areas become synchronized, peaking 12 h after the time of food presentation. Daily limited access to sucrose or saccharine in freely fed rats or scheduled access to saline in sodium-deprived rats had no effect on these PER2 rhythms. Thus, it would appear that the rhythms of PER2 in limbic forebrain structures are sensitive to signals that arise from the alleviation of a negative metabolic state associated with scheduled feeding and that access to rewarding substances in the absence of food deprivation or metabolic challenges, per se, is not sufficient to alter the rhythms of PER2 expression in these regions.

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Limited food access, but not sweet or salty tastes, aligns daily rhythms of a key protein in emotion and memory areas

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