Pup circadian rhythm entrainment--effect of maternal ganglionectomy or pinealectomy.

In rodents, during late embryonic and early neonatal development, circadian rhythms develop in synchrony with those of their mothers, which in turn are synchronized with the environmental photoperiod. This paper examines the effect of maternal ganglionectomy (pineal gland sympathetic denervation) or extirpation of the pineal gland on pups' drinking rhythms, a behavior that is continuously monitored in individual animals starting after weaning and studied up to 3 weeks later. Maternal ganglionectomy or pinealectomy performed on the 7th day of gestation significantly disrupts rat pups' drinking behavior, within and among litters. In both treatments, circadian rhythm characteristics of the free-running period (tau), phase, amplitude and alpha were significantly altered compared to those of the control pups born from sham-operated mothers. With the exception of the alpha component, both maternal treatments have similar effects. When melatonin was given to the mothers instead of the endogenous pineal secretory activity for 5 days during the late period of gestation, this treatment reversed the effects of maternal ganglionectomy and pinealectomy. These observations, together with previous studies of our group, indicate that the maternal superior cervical ganglia and pineal gland are necessary components of the mechanism for maternal synchronization, and that maternal melatonin may, directly or indirectly, affect the performance of the pups' central oscillator during early pup rat development.

Synthesis of retinal ganglion cell phospholipids is under control of an endogenous circadian clock: daily variations in phospholipid-synthesizing enzyme activities.

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are major components of the vertebrate circadian system. They send information to the brain, synchronizing the entire organism to the light-dark cycles. We recently reported that chicken RGCs display daily variations in the biosynthesis of glycerophospholipids in constant darkness (DD). It was unclear whether this rhythmicity was driven by this population itself or by other retinal cells. Here we show that RGCs present circadian oscillations in the labeling of [32P]phospholipids both in vivo in constant light (LL) and in cultures of immunopurified embryonic cells. In vivo, there was greater [32P]orthophosphate incorporation into total phospholipids during the subjective day. Phosphatidylinositol (PI) was the most 32P-labeled lipid at all times examined, displaying maximal levels during the subjective day and dusk. In addition, a significant daily variation was found in the activity of distinct enzymes of the pathway of phospholipid biosynthesis and degradation, such as lysophospholipid acyltransferases (AT II), phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PAP), and diacylglycerol lipase (DGL) in cell preparations obtained in DD, exhibiting differential but coordinated temporal profiles. Furthermore, cultures of immunopurified RGCs synchronized by medium exchange displayed a circadian fluctuation in the phospholipid labeling. The results demonstrate that chicken RGCs contain circadian oscillators capable of generating metabolic oscillations in the biosynthesis of phospholipids autonomously.

Maternal coordination of the daily rhythm of malate dehydrogenase activity in testes from young rats: effect of maternal sympathetic denervation of the pineal gland and administration of melatonin.

Chronic sympathetic denervation of the pineal gland by bilateral removal of the superior cervical ganglia (SCG) was performed on female rats 30 days before impregnation. The offspring, maintained in the dark from birth, had disruption of the malate dehydrogenase circadian rhythm in the testes at 25 days of age. A daily injection of melatonin (1 mg/kg s.c. at 10:00 or 18:00 h) to denervated mothers from the 14th day of pregnancy up to the 10th day postpartum produced one daily phase in the enzyme activity of tests in the offspring. Entrainment of daily enzyme activity also was obtained when the hormone was administered orally to the pups during the postnatal period or when pups were reared by intact (not denervated) foster mothers. The results indicate the involvement of the maternal pineal gland in the maternal transfer of photoperiodic information necessary for the coordination of the circadian system in young rats.