Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Peptide (PACAP)-Glutamate Co-transmission Drives Circadian Phase-Advancing Responses to Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cell Projections by Suprachiasmatic Nucleus.

Results from a variety of sources indicate a role for pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) in light/glutamate-induced phase resetting of the circadian clock mediated by the retinohypothalamic tract (RHT). Attempts to block or remove PACAP's contribution to clock-resetting have generated phenotypes that differ in their responses to light or glutamate. For example, previous studies of circadian behaviors found that period-maintenance and early-night phase delays are intact in PACAP-null mice, yet there is a consistent deficit in behavioral phase-resetting to light stimulation in the late night.

Glial and light-dependent glutamate metabolism in the suprachiasmatic nuclei.

The suprachiasmatic nuclei, the main circadian clock in mammals, are entrained by light through glutamate released from retinal cells. Astrocytes are key players in glutamate metabolism but their role in the entrainment process is unknown. We studied the time dependence of glutamate uptake and glutamine synthetase (GS) activity finding diurnal oscillations in glutamate uptake (high levels during the light phase) and daily and circadian fluctuations in GS activity (higher during the light phase and the subjective day).

Time-of-day- and light-dependent expression of ubiquitin protein ligase E3 component N-recognin 4 (UBR4) in the suprachiasmatic nucleus circadian clock.

Circadian rhythms of behavior and physiology are driven by the biological clock that operates endogenously but can also be entrained to the light-dark cycle of the environment. In mammals, the master circadian pacemaker is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is composed of individual cellular oscillators that are driven by a set of core clock genes interacting in transcriptional/translational feedback loops. Light signals can trigger molecular events in the SCN that ultimately impact on the phase of expression of core clock genes to reset the master pacemaker.

The acetyltransferase Clock is dispensable for circadian aftereffects in mice.

Recent demonstration of the histone acetyltransferase activity of the Clock gene greatly expanded the regulatory role of circadian clocks in gene transcription. Clock and its partner Bmal1 are responsible for the generation of circadian oscillations that are synchronized (entrained) to the external light cycle. Entraining light often produces long-lasting changes in the endogenous period called aftereffects.

In vitro circadian rhythms: imaging and electrophysiology.

In vitro assays have localized circadian pacemakers to individual cells, revealed genetic determinants of rhythm generation, identified molecular players in cell-cell synchronization and determined physiological events regulated by circadian clocks. Although they allow strict control of experimental conditions and reduce the number of variables compared with in vivo studies, they also lack many of the conditions in which cellular circadian oscillators normally function. The present review highlights methods to study circadian timing in cultured mammalian cells and how they have shaped the hypothesis that all cells are capable of circadian rhythmicity.