Involvement of 5-HT₃ and 5-HT₄ receptors in the regulation of circadian clock gene expression in mouse small intestine.

Several lines of evidence suggest that 5-HT receptors play a critical role in the expression of clock genes in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the main circadian oscillator in hamsters. The contributions of 5-HT-receptor subtypes in the intestine, where they are expressed at high concentrations, are however not yet clarified. The 5-HT synthesis inhibitor, p-chlorophenylalanine, attenuated the daily rhythm of Per1 and Per2 gene expression in the intestine.

Attenuated food anticipatory activity and abnormal circadian locomotor rhythms in Rgs16 knockdown mice.

Regulators of G protein signaling (RGS) are a multi-functional protein family, which functions in part as GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) of G protein α-subunits to terminate G protein signaling. Previous studies have demonstrated that the Rgs16 transcripts exhibit robust circadian rhythms both in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the master circadian light-entrainable oscillator (LEO) of the hypothalamus, and in the liver. To investigate the role of RGS16 in the circadian clock in vivo, we generated two independent transgenic mouse lines using lentiviral vectors expressing short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting the Rgs16 mRNA.