Figure 3.
Effect of forced desynchrony of vl- and dmSCN oscillators on AVPV Per1 expression in OVX+E2 rats. (A) Per1 expression is significantly diminished at the onset of the vlSCN-associated locomotor activity bout in misaligned days (Mis-vl), but not at the onset of dmSCN-associated locomotor activity bout (Mis-dm), as compared to expression measured at the onset of locomotor activity on days of alignment (Aligned), when the peak expression is expected. One-way ANOVA shows significant effect of phase (P = 0.007). *Statistically different from Aligned and Mis-dm (P < 0.05, Tukey post-hoc comparisons). (B) Representative radiomicrographs of labelled AVPVs from each phase. (C) Representative actogram of the locomotor-activity output under forced desynchrony. Schematic top section shows light (pale): dark (grey) cycle; below is real activity of one desynchronized rat under this schedule (black vertical ticks represent 10-minute bins of locomotor activity). Note that one locomotor rhythm begins in the dark phase of the LD cycle (period = 22 h) while one does not and shows a period of ~25 h (period differences highlighted with black diagonal lines). White triangle to the left highlights a day of alignment, where both locomotor activity rhythms begin at the same time; black triangle highlights day of maximum misalignment, when one locomotor bout begins as the other ends. Grey outlined balloons point to hypothetical times of sacrifice for animals under this schedule to construct the comparisons in A and B, with the top balloon showing alignment, lower left showing Mis-vl, and lower right showing Mis-dm.