Current biology : CB

How the brain's daily clock system records seasonal changes

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated

Abstract

Electrophysiological recordings show that the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) encodes day length through varying activity profiles in mice.

  • Mice housed under long photoperiods (LD 16:8) exhibited broad activity profiles, while those under short photoperiods (LD 8:16) showed compressed profiles.
  • These activity patterns remained consistent even after mice were placed in constant darkness.
  • In vitro recordings confirmed that SCN electrical activity patterns differed between long and short days.
  • The width of multiunit activity (MUA) profiles was influenced by the phase distribution of contributing neurons within the SCN.
  • A significantly broader distribution of neuron phases was observed in long days compared to short days.
  • Long-term recordings indicated that elevated activity durations were similar in both short (3.48 hours) and long days (3.85 hours).

Simplified

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.
View Full Text ↗

Related papers

Feb '14
Stronger timing adjustments in the brain’s internal clock network
cited by 22 papers
research support, non-u.s. gov't
Oct '09
Day length and light changes affect daily rhythms of clock genes and proteins in different parts of the mouse brain's time-keeping center
cited by 39 papers
research support, non-u.s. gov't
Apr '08
Changes in the brain’s internal clock system for measuring day length
top 20% journal
cited by 86 papers
research support, non-u.s. gov't
Feb '07
How the body's internal clock processes daily and seasonal light signals
top 50% journal
cited by 32 papers
journal article
May '05
A GABA system is needed to connect separate timing signals in different parts of the body’s internal clock
top 5% journal
cited by 300 papers
comparative study
Jul '08
How daily and seasonal rhythms arise from interactions between internal timekeeping cells
top 20% journal
cited by 27 papers
research support, non-u.s. gov't

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

  • 📚7 fresh studies
  • 📝plain-language summaries
  • ✅direct links to original studies
  • 🏅top journal indicators
  • 📅weekly delivery
  • 🧘‍♂️always free

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

issue #50
Afternoon workouts beat morning sessions for fat loss — and your genes may explain why
6 days ago7 studies
issue #49
Your body clock controls which drugs work — and a protein called gp78 is why
1 week ago7 studies
issue #48
A blood test can now estimate your internal clock time using just 60 proteins
2 weeks ago7 studies
issue #47
Your body clock controls liver fibrosis — and scientists just found the on/off switch
3 weeks ago7 studies
issue #46
Night shift workers' metabolomes fall out of sync — and glucose pays the price
4 weeks ago7 studies
issue #45
80% of FDA-approved drug targets show clock-dependent activity — timing may be everything
5 weeks ago7 studies
issue #44
Sleeping late on weekends is independently linked to higher cardiovascular disease risk
6 weeks ago7 studies
issue #43
A smartphone app cut mood episode recurrence 3.4x in people with depression and bipolar disorder
7 weeks ago7 studies
issue #42
Morning cancer immunotherapy linked to 49% vs 40% disease control rate in 969 patients
8 weeks ago7 studies
issue #41
Timing cancer treatment before 3pm nearly doubled survival in lung cancer patients
9 weeks ago7 studies
explore the archive
See more issues from the circadian biology brief