Behavioural neurologyJul 30, 2026

How Disrupting Body Clocks Affects Memory, Movement, Pain, Exploration, and Key Brain Proteins Differently in Male and Female Rats

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Aug 3, 2026

Abstract

Circadian rhythm disturbances (CRDs) impacted cognitive and behavioral functions in rats over various time periods.

CRD increased locomotor activity in males across all durations, while in females, only long-term CRD had this effect.
Females exhibited increased rearing behavior only with long-term CRD, whereas midterm CRD decreased rearing in males.
Pain threshold decreased in males with short- and midterm CRD, while in females, only midterm CRD caused a decrease.
Both sexes showed impaired novel object recognition memory following all CRD protocols.
All CRD protocols downregulated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in females, but short-term CRD had no effect on males.
Glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) levels increased in both sexes after long-term CRD, indicating potential sex-dependent roles in behavioral changes.

Simplified

Evidence has shown that constant light or constant darkness significantly impairs cognitive functions and affects the mood state. The present study investigated the effect of circadian rhythm disturbances (circadian rhythm disruptions, CRDs) on locomotor activity, rearing behavior, pain threshold, novel object recognition memory, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) expression levels in the hippocampus of both sexes of rats. CRD was done using a combination of constant light (48 h) and constant darkness (48 h) periods for 8 (short-term), 16 (midterm), or 24 (long-term) days. The results showed CRD in all protocols increased locomotor activity in males, whereas in females, only long-term CRD increased it. Long-term CRD increased rearing only in females, whereas in males, only midterm CRD decreased rearing. Short- and midterm CRD in males decreased pain threshold, whereas in females, only midterm CRD decreased pain threshold. Novel object recognition memory was impaired in both sexes following all protocols of CRD. All protocols of CRD in females downregulated BDNF, whereas in males, short-term CRD had no effect. GSK-3β was increased following long-term CRD in both sexes. Spearman correlation test showed that BDNF function may be associated with changes in some behavioral functions in both sexes; however, GSK-3β function may be associated with some behavioral changes only in females. In conclusion, we showed sex differences in the effect of CRD on locomotor activity, rearing behavior, and pain threshold. Also, GSK-3β may show a sex-dependent role in the modulation of behavioral changes induced by CRD.

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How Disrupting Body Clocks Affects Memory, Movement, Pain, Exploration, and Key Brain Proteins Differently in Male and Female Rats

Abstract

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Abstract

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Recent issues from the circadian biology brief