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The role of the suprachiasmatic nuclei in the generation of circadian rhythms in the golden hamster,Mesocricetus auratus

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Summary

  1. 1.

    Neural mechanisms involved in the generation and entrainment of circadian rhythms of behaviour were studied in male golden hamsters,Mesocricetus auratus.

  2. 2.

    Destruction of the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus and accompanying interruption of the retino-hypothalamic tract (RHT) modified or eliminated entrainment to lighting cycles.

  3. 3.

    Such lesions also prevented the generation of normal circadian rhythms of both activity and drinking. Some lesioned hamsters generated bimodal (circa 12 h) and trimodal (circa 8 h) activity patterns in constant conditions.

  4. 4.

    Other lesioned hamsters appeared to be arrhythmic under constant conditions; power spectral analysis revealed low amplitude circa 8 h rhythms in the records of many of these hamsters.

  5. 5.

    The records of many lesioned hamsters showed several activity components that dissociated from each other and from the illumination cycle and free ran independently for many cycles. These and other features of the activity records indicate that activity rhythms in hamsters are controlled by a complex of oscillatory units whose mutual coupling produces the features of normal circadian rhythmicity. The SCN are apparently responsible for the maintenance of normal coupling among these oscillators and, thereby, for the generation of circadian behavioural rhythmicity.

  6. 6.

    The presence of residual entrainment after SCN destruction in some hamsters shows that visual pathways other than the RHT can to a limited extent mediate light effects on the circadian system.

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Author notes

  1. Benjamin Rusak

    Present address: Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

    Benjamin Rusak

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  1. Benjamin Rusak
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Additional information

Studies contained in this and the following report were supported by an NICHD grant to Irving Zucker (HD-02982). I am grateful to him for his constant support, encouragement and advice. These studies were submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for a Ph.D. degree at the University of California and have been reported in part in two previous reviews (Zucker et al., 1976; Morin et al., 1976). I am indebted to Darlene Frost, Peggy Roisman, Elise Ravel, Austin Marks and David Brillinger for assistance in the performance and analysis of these studies.

The author was supported by fellowships from the Graduate Division while at the University of California, Berkeley

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Rusak, B. The role of the suprachiasmatic nuclei in the generation of circadian rhythms in the golden hamster,Mesocricetus auratus . J. Comp. Physiol. 118, 145–164 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00611819

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00611819

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