Multi-stability of circadian phase wave within early postnatal suprachiasmatic nucleus

Sci Rep. 2016 Feb 19:6:21463. doi: 10.1038/srep21463.

Abstract

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a group of cells that functions as a biological master clock. In different SCN cells, oscillations of biochemical markers such as the expression-level of clock genes, are not synchronized but instead form slow circadian phase waves propagating over the whole cell population spatio-temporal structure is a fixed property set by the anatomy of a given SCN. Here, we show that this is not the case in early postnatal SCN. Earlier studies presumed that their Based on bioluminescence imaging experiments with Per2-Luciferase mice SCN cultures which guided computer simulations of a realistic model of the SCN, we demonstrate that the wave is not unique but can be in various modes including phase- coherent oscillation, crescent-shaped wave, and most notably, a rotating pinwheel wave that conceptually resembles a wall clock with a rotating hand. Furthermore, mode transitions can be induced by a pulse of 38.5 °C temperature perturbation. Importantly, the waves support a significantly different period, suggesting that neither a spatially-fixed phase ordering nor a specialized pacemaker having a fixed period exist in these studied SCNs. These results lead to new important questions of what the observed multi-stability means for the proper function of an SCN and its arrhythmia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials
  • Animals
  • Animals, Newborn
  • Biological Clocks / physiology
  • Brain Waves
  • Circadian Rhythm / physiology*
  • Mice
  • Models, Biological
  • Suprachiasmatic Nucleus / physiology*
  • Temperature