The Journal of Neuroscience, July 1, 2001, 21(13):4864-4874
Contrasting Effects of Ibotenate Lesions of the Paraventricular
Nucleus and Subparaventricular Zone on Sleep-Wake Cycle and
Temperature Regulation
J.
Lu1,
Y.-H.
Zhang1,
T. C.
Chou1,
S. E.
Gaus1,
J. K.
Elmquist1,
P.
Shiromani2, and
C.
B.
Saper1
1 Department of Neurology and Program in Neuroscience,
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts 02115, and 2 Department of Psychiatry,
Brockton Veterans Administration Hospital, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the circadian pacemaker for the
brain, provides a massive projection to the subparaventricular zone
(SPZ), but the role of the SPZ in circadian processes has received
little attention. We examined the effects on circadian rhythms of
sleep, body temperature, and activity in rats of restricted ibotenic
acid lesions of the ventral or dorsal SPZ that spared the immediately
adjacent paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVH) and the SCN.
Ventral SPZ lesions caused profound reduction of measures of circadian
index of sleep (by 90%) and locomotor activity (75% reduction) but
had less effect on body temperature (50% reduction); dorsal SPZ
lesions caused greater reduction of circadian index of body temperature
(by 70%) but had less effect on circadian index of locomotor activity
(45% reduction) or sleep (<5% reduction). The loss of circadian
regulation of body temperature or sleep was replaced by a strong
ultradian rhythm (period ~3 hr). Lesions of the PVH, immediately
dorsal to the SPZ, had no significant effect on any circadian rhythms
that we measured, nor did the lesions affect the baseline body
temperature. However, the fever response after intravenous injection of
lipopolysaccharide (5 µg/kg) was markedly decreased in the rats with
PVH lesions (66.6%) but not dorsal SPZ lesions. These results indicate
that circadian rhythms of sleep and body temperatures are regulated by
separate neuronal populations in the SPZ, and different aspects of
thermoregulation (circadian rhythm and fever response) are controlled
by distinct anatomical substrates.
Key words:
circadian rhythm; ultradian rhythm; ibotenic acid; suprachiasmatic nucleus; c-Fos; fever
Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/01/21134864-11$05.00/0