Comparative locomotor activity patterns in the portunid crabs Liocarcinus holsatus and L. depurator

1991 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Abelló ◽  
D. G. Reid ◽  
E. Naylor
Keyword(s):  
Locomotor Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
High Tide ◽  
Sandy Beaches ◽  
Maximum Activity ◽  
Circadian Activity ◽  
Activity Rhythms ◽  
Sublittoral Zone ◽  
Free Running ◽  
Behavioural Mechanism

The free-running locomotor activity rhythms of freshly-captured swimming crabs Liocarcinus holsatus and L. depurator have been studied in constant conditions in the laboratory. L. holsatus captured in the intertidal zone of sandy beaches showed strong circatidal activity rhythms with maximum activity at high tide. L. holsatus captured in the sublittoral zone had a clear tendency to show circadian activity rhythms with highest activity during day-time hours. L. depurator occurred only sublittorally and showed circadian activity patterns with highest activity during the night. Exposure to hydrostatic pressure cycles of tidal amplitude and periodicity, entrained strong circatidal activity rhythms in previously arhythmic L. holsatus. This activity pattern also showed a marked circadian component. Exposure to the same regime entrained a circadian rhythm, but not a circatidal rhythm in L. depurator. In the sublittoral zone L. depurator is active mainly during the night, whereas L. holsatus, is active mainly during the day. This may constitute a behavioural mechanism for minimizing competitive interactions between these two sympatric crabs.

scholarly journals RCAN1 Knockout and Overexpression Recapitulate an Ensemble of Rest-activity and Circadian Disruptions Characteristic of Down Syndrome, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Normative Aging

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Wong ◽  
Jordan M. Buck ◽  
Curtis Borski ◽  
Jessica Pafford ◽  
Bailey N. Keller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Wheel Running ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Circadian Activity ◽  
Activity Rhythms ◽  
Free Running ◽  
Rest Activity ◽  
Young Mice

Abstract Background: Regulator of calcineurin 1 (RCAN1) is overexpressed in Down syndrome (DS), but RCAN1 levels are also increased in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and normal aging. AD is highly comorbid among individuals with DS and is characterized in part by progressive neurodegeneration that resembles accelerated aging. Importantly, abnormal RCAN1 levels have been demonstrated to promote memory deficits and pathophysiology symptomatic of DS, AD, and aging. Anomalous diurnal rest-activity patterns and circadian rhythm disruptions are also common in DS, AD, and aging and have been implicated in facilitating age-related cognitive decline and AD progression. However, no prior studies have assessed whether RCAN1 dysregulation may also promote the age-associated alteration of rest-activity profiles and circadian rhythms, which could in turn contribute to neurodegeneration in DS, AD, and aging. Methods: The present study examined the impacts of RCAN1 deficiency and overexpression on the photic entrainment, circadian periodicity, intensity and distribution, diurnal patterning, and circadian rhythmicity of wheel running in young (3-6 months old) and aged (9-14 months old) mice. All data were initially analyzed by multifactorial ANOVA with variables of genotype, age, treatment, and sex considered as dependent variables.Results: We found that daily RCAN1 levels in the hippocampi of light-entrained young mice are generally constant and that balanced RCAN1 expression is necessary for normal circadian locomotor activity rhythms. While the light-entrained diurnal period was unaltered, RCAN1-null and -overexpressing mice displayed lengthened endogenous (free-running) circadian periods like mouse models of AD and aging. In light-entrained young mice, RCAN1 knockout and overexpression also recapitulated the general hypoactivity, diurnal rest-wake pattern fragmentation, and attenuated amplitudes of circadian activity rhythms reported in DS, preclinical and clinical AD, healthily aging individuals, and rodent models thereof. Under constant darkness, RCAN1-null and -overexpressing mice displayed altered locomotor behavior indicating circadian clock dysfunction. Using the Dp(16)1Yey/+ (Dp16) mouse model for DS, which expresses three copies of Rcan1, we found reduced wheel running activity and rhythmicity in both light-entrained and free-running young Dp16 mice like young RCAN1-overexpressing mice. Critically, these diurnal and circadian deficits were rescued in part or entirely by restoring Rcan1 to two copies in Dp16 mice. Conclusions: Collectively, this study's findings suggest that both loss and aberrant gain of RCAN1 precipitate anomalous light-entrained diurnal and circadian activity patterns emblematic of DS, AD, and aging.

Effects of daily melatonin injections on activity rhythms of rats in constant light

1987 ◽  
Vol 253 (1) ◽  
pp. R101-R107 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Chesworth ◽  
V. M. Cassone ◽  
S. M. Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Locomotor Activity ◽  
Saline Solution ◽  
Constant Light ◽  
Constant Darkness ◽  
Circadian Activity ◽  
Activity Rhythms ◽  
Melatonin Administration ◽  
Free Running ◽  
Circadian Patterns ◽  
Phase Relationships

Although from pinealectomy studies the pineal body does not appear to participate in the generation of circadian rhythms of mammals, daily injections of the pineal hormone melatonin entrain free-running locomotor activity rhythms of rats in constant darkness. The aim of the present study was to determine whether rats whose circadian activity and drinking rhythms were disrupted in constant light (LL) could be synchronized by daily melatonin administration. Rats were subjected to a regime of gradually increasing photoperiod until they were maintained in LL. Rats whose rhythms became disrupted or showed intact free-running rhythms were injected daily with either melatonin (1 mg/kg) or vehicle (ethanol-saline) solution. Daily melatonin injections either synchronized or partly synchronized disrupted circadian patterns of activity. In contrast to previous findings from experiments conducted in constant darkness, melatonin did not entrain but only partly synchronized intact free-running rhythms. Results are interpreted in terms of melatonin acting on the coupling or phase relationships between oscillators generating circadian locomotor activity rhythms.

scholarly journals Daily activity of four tropical intertidal hermit crabs from Southeastern Brazil

2003 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Turra ◽  
M. R. Denadai
Keyword(s):  
High Activity ◽  
Activity Pattern ◽  
Daily Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
High Tide ◽  
Hermit Crabs ◽  
Activity Period ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Intertidal Flat ◽  
Circadian Activity

This study describes the daily activity in a simulated high tide situation of four species of hermit crabs (Pagurus criniticornis, Clibanarius antillensis, C. sclopetarius, and C. vittatus) that coexist in an intertidal flat in southeastern Brazil. Observations were done in two-hour intervals during two subsequent days (48 h) in three replicate pools with thirty crabs each. Among species (between and within genera) there was an evident variation in activity patterns, of which three could be distinguished. The circadian activity patterns of C. antillensis and C. vittatus could be characterized as evening and nocturnal, with resting peaks during the morning and afternoon. The circadian activity pattern of C. sclopetarius was characterized by two marked peaks of inactivity, corresponding to dawn and evening, which could represent an intrinsic association with the semi-lunar tidal cycles of the study area. Pagurus criniticornis showed high activity not influenced by day/night conditions during the entire observed period. These activity pattern variations of the studied hermit crabs should be taken into account in designing further experiments. More precise and accurate interspecific behavioral comparisons among species could be achieved in nocturnal experiments, the high activity period of all species.

Effects of Pregnancy and Parturition on Free-Running Circadian Activity Rhythms in the Rat

1987 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan M. Rosenwasser ◽  
Susanne J. Hollander ◽  
Norman T. Adler
Keyword(s):  
Circadian Activity ◽  
Activity Rhythms ◽  
Free Running

Social cues modulate free-running circadian activity rhythms in the diurnal rodent, Octodon degus

1997 ◽  
Vol 273 (2) ◽  
pp. R797-R804 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Goel ◽  
T. M. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Active Phase ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Constant Darkness ◽  
Circadian Activity ◽  
Mutual Synchronization ◽  
Octodon Degus ◽  
Activity Rhythms ◽  
Female Partners ◽  
Free Running ◽  
Activity Onset

Two experiments assessed the effects of social cues and daily disturbance on the circadian locomotor activity rhythms of Octodon degus housed in constant darkness. In experiment 1, females in free-running conditions were housed alone or with entrained female partners ("donors") in cages on either side of a mesh barrier. Donors were removed daily and entrained to 1 h of light, and as a control, the cages of singly housed animals were rustled daily coincident with donor removal and replacement. None of the animals housed alone entrained to daily disturbances presented during the active phase, and seven of eight degus failed to show changes in the circadian period (tau) or phase of their rhythms. In contrast, although the presence of entrained donors did not elicit full entrainment of free-running rhythms, five of six animals demonstrated partial entrainment for 5-12 days (of 30 days), four of six altered phase of activity onset, and six of six lengthened tau of circadian rhythms. In experiment 2, females whose free-running circadian activity rhythms were at least 10 h out of phase were housed together in pairs. None of the pairs demonstrated mutual synchronization of their activity rhythms, although 8 of 12 degus modified phase of activity onset and 9 of 12 animals altered tau. We conclude social information in the absence of light, is sufficient for partial entrainment and for changes in tau and phase of free-running rhythms in this diurnal rodent.

Circadian activity of the white sucker, Catostomus commersoni: comparison of individual and shoaling fish

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (8) ◽  
pp. 1399-1403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kavaliers
Keyword(s):  
Locomotor Activity ◽  
Circadian Rhythms ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Constant Darkness ◽  
White Sucker ◽  
Circadian Period ◽  
Circadian Activity ◽  
Catostomus Commersoni ◽  
Free Running ◽  
Precise Version

Individual and shoaling white suckers, Catostomus commersoni, displayed free running circadian rhythms of locomotor activity under conditions of constant darkness and temperature. The circadian activity of shoals was different from that of single fish. The activity of single fish was rhythmic initially with a period of less than 24 h, but became arrhythmic after 15–30 days. Shoals of white suckers had a less variable circadian period that was greater than 24 h, and showed no evidence of arrhythmicity. The circadian activity of shoals is determined by its behavioural and social organization; it is not simply a more precise version of the activity of single fish.

scholarly journals per mRNA cycling is locked to lights-off under photoperiodic conditions that support circadian feedback loop function.

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 4182-4188 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Qiu ◽  
P E Hardin
Keyword(s):  
Locomotor Activity ◽  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Reference Point ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Negative Feedback Loop ◽  
Loop Function ◽  
Activity Rhythms ◽  
Free Running ◽  
Circadian Behavior ◽  
Free Running Period

Circadian fluctuations in per mRNA and protein are central to the operation of a negative feedback loop that is necessary for setting the free-running period and for entraining the circadian oscillator to light-dark cycles. In this study, per mRNA cycling and locomotor activity rhythms were measured under different light and dark cycling regimes to determine how photoperiods affect the molecular feedback loop and circadian behavior, respectively. These experiments reveal that per mRNA peaks in abundance 4 h after lights-off in photoperiods of < or = 16 h, that, phase shifts in per mRNA cycling and behavioral rhythmicity occur rapidly after flies are transferred from one photoperiod to another, and that photoperiods longer than 20 h abolish locomotor activity rhythms and leave per mRNA at a median constitutive level. These results indicate that the per feedback loop uses lights-off as a phase reference point and suggest (along with previous findings for per01 and tim01) that per mRNA cycling is not regulated via simple negative feedback from the per protein.

Behavioral and neurochemical sources of variability of circadian period and phase: studies of circadian rhythms of npy−/− mice

2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (3) ◽  
pp. R1306-R1314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Harrington ◽  
Penny Molyneux ◽  
Stephanie Soscia ◽  
Cheruba Prabakar ◽  
Judy McKinley-Brewer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Locomotor Activity ◽  
Circadian Rhythms ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Circadian Period ◽  
Running Wheel ◽  
Clock Period ◽  
A Value ◽  
Free Running ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Delayed Phase

The cycle length or period of the free-running rhythm is a key characteristic of circadian rhythms. In this study we verify prior reports that locomotor activity patterns and running wheel access can alter the circadian period, and we report that these treatments also increase variability of the circadian period between animals. We demonstrate that the loss of a neurochemical, neuropeptide Y (NPY), abolishes these influences and reduces the interindividual variability in clock period. These behavioral and environmental influences, from daily distribution of peak locomotor activity and from access to a running wheel, both act to push the mean circadian period to a value < 24 h. Magnitude of light-induced resetting is altered as well. When photoperiod was abruptly changed from a 18:6-h light-dark cycle (LD18:6) to LD6:18, mice deficient in NPY were slower to respond to the change in photoperiod by redistribution of their activity within the prolonged dark and eventually adopted a delayed phase angle of entrainment compared with controls. These results support the hypothesis that nonphotic influences on circadian period serve a useful function when animals must respond to abruptly changing photoperiods and point to the NPYergic pathway from the intergeniculate leaflet innervating the suprachiasmatic nucleus as a circuit mediating these effects.

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