Back
pdf
Journal article

Behavioural food-anticipation in clock genes deficient mice: confirming old phenotypes, describing new phenotypes

  • Mendoza, Jorge Institut de Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Département de Neurobiologie des Rythmes, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, France
  • Albrecht, Urs Department of Medicine, Division of Biochemistry, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Challet, Etienne Institut de Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Département de Neurobiologie des Rythmes, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, France
    17.02.2010
Published in:
  • Genes, Brain and Behavior. - 2010, vol. 9, no. 5, p. 467-477
clock genes
food-anticipatory activity
circadian
suprachiasmatic
hypothalamus
English Animals fed daily at the same time exhibit circadian food-anticipatory activity (FAA), which has been suggested to be driven by one or several food-entrainable oscillators (FEOs). FAA is altered in mice lacking some circadian genes essential for timekeeping in the main suprachiasmatic clock (SCN). Here we confirmed that single mutations of clock genes Per1−/− and Per2Brdm1 alter FAA expression in constant darkness (DD) or under a light-dark cycle (LD). Furthermore, we found that Per1−/−;Per2Brdm1 and Per2Brdm1;Cry1−/− double mutant animals did not display a stable and significant FAA either in DD or LD. Interestingly, rescued behavioural rhythms in Per2Brdm1;Cry2−/− mice in DD were totally entrained to feeding time and re-synchronized after phase-shifts of mealtime, indicating a higher SCN sensitivity to feeding cues. However, under an LD cycle and restricted feeding at midday, FAA in double Per2Brdm1;Cry2−/− mutant mice was absent. These results indicate that shutting down one or two clock genes results in altered circadian meal anticipation. Moreover, we demonstrate that in a genetically rescued SCN clock (Per2Brdm1;Cry2−/−), food is a powerful zeitgeber to entrain behavioural rhythms, leading the SCN to be more sensitive to feeding cues than in wild-type littermates.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Biologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Biological sciences
License
License undefined
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/301551
Statistics
Document views: 61 File downloads:
  • alb_bfa.pdf: 160