Protective effect of maternal prenatal melatonin administration on rat pups born to mothers submitted to constant light during gestation

We studied the effects of adverse conditions such as constant light (LL) on the circadian rhythm of malate (MDH, EC 1.1.1.37) and lactate (LDH, EC 1.1.1.27) dehydrogenase activities of the testes of male Wistar rats on postnatal day 28 (PN28), anxiety-like behavior (elevated plus-maze test) at PN60 and sexual behavior at PN120. The rats were assigned to mother groups on day 10 of pregnancy: control (12-h light/dark), LL (light from day 10 to 21 of pregnancy), and LL+Mel (LL and sc injection to the mothers of a daily dose of melatonin, 1 mg/kg body weight at circadian time 12, from day 17 to 21 of pregnancy). LL offspring did not show circadian rhythms of MDH (N = 62) and LDH (N = 63) activities (cosinor and ANOVA-LSD Fisher). They presented a 44.7 percent decrease in open-arm entries and a 67.9 percent decrease in time (plus-maze test, N = 15, P < 0.001, Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis test), an increase in mounting (94.4 percent), intromission (94.5 percent) and ejaculation (56.6 percent) latencies (N = 12, P < 0.01, Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis test) and lower numbers of these events (61, 59 and 73 percent, respectively; P < 0.01, N = 12) compared to controls. The offspring of the LL+Mel group presented MDH and LDH circadian rhythms (P < 0.05, N = 50, cosinor and ANOVA-LSD Fisher), anxiety-like and sexual behaviors similar to control. These findings supported the importance of the melatonin signal and provide evidence for the protective effects of hormones on maternal programming during gestation. This protective action of melatonin is probably related to its entrainment capacity, favoring internal coupling of the fetal multioscillatory system.

Circadian rhythm of alpha-amylase in rat parotid gland

The circadian rhythm of alpha-amylase, E.C. 3.2.1.1. (alpha-1,4-glucan-4-glucanohydrolase) in parotid gland of 25 day old rats was studied under different experimental conditions (fast, reversed photoperiod, constant light or darkness and treatment with reserpine and alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine). The rhythm of rats fasted or exposed for 7 days to constant darkness did not change. There were modifications in the rhythm of rats submitted to a reversed photoperiod and it disappeared in animals submitted to constant light or darkness for 15 days or treated with reserpine or alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine. The rhythm persisted, with minor changes in the acrophase, in parotids of rats kept during their gestation and post-natal life in constant light or darkness. Results suggest that the circadian rhythm of alpha-amylase in parotid gland of young rats is endogenous, synchronized by the photoperiod, under autonomous nervous system control and maternal coordination. This model appears to be useful in the study of sympathetic nervous system control of target organs and circadian rhythms in general.