The serotonergic anxiolytic buspirone attenuates circadian responses to light

Buspirone significantly attenuates phase advances to light in hamsters and wildtype mice.

• Phase-shifting light pulses at late subjective night were less effective in causing phase advances in hamsters and wildtype mice treated with buspirone.
• In 5-HT1A receptor knockout mice, buspirone treatment led to increased photic phase shifts.
• Wildtype mice showed increased cFos expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus with attenuated phase shifts after buspirone treatment.
• Potentiated phase shifts in knockout mice correlated with increased phosphorylation of ERK and CREB and decreased cFos expression.
• Chronic buspirone treatment resulted in diminished wheel-running rhythm amplitude and lengthened active phase duration.
• Buspirone administration at midday caused non-photic phase advances in wildtype mice but not in knockout mice.

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