Timed restricted feeding restores daily patterns of a clock protein in stress and emotion brain areas of rats without adrenal glands

Adrenalectomy abolished the rhythms of the circadian clock protein Period 2 (PER2) in the limbic forebrain in normally fed rats but did not affect TRF-entrained PER2 rhythms.

• Timed restricted feeding (TRF) schedules synchronize the expression of PER2 in the limbic forebrain in rats.
• Adrenal glucocorticoids are known to influence circadian clock gene expression in peripheral tissues and certain brain regions.
• The study assessed the role of glucocorticoids in the regulation of PER2 expression induced by TRF.
• Results indicate that the TRF effect on PER2 rhythms is independent of adrenal glucocorticoids.
• The findings suggest that glucocorticoid involvement in PER2 regulation is region specific and state dependent.

Simplified