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Comment
. 2015 Feb 12:4:e06351.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.06351.

Activity is a slave to many masters

Andrew D Steele  1 , Ralph E Mistlberger  2
Affiliations
Comment

Activity is a slave to many masters

Andrew D Steele et al. Elife. .

Abstract

Dopamine neurons in the midbrain have a central role in generating cycles of biological activity with periods as short as 4 hours and as long as 100 hours.

Keywords: chronobiology; circadian rhythms; dopamine; dopamine transporter; mouse; neuroscience; oscillator; ultradian.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests:The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Different kinds of body clocks.
Retinal input to a clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) entrains circadian (∼24 hr) rhythms to daily cycles of light and darkness. Dopamine neurons in the midbrain and dopamine sensitive neurons in the dorsal striatum appear to be crucial for regulating activity rhythms with periods of ~4 hours: these ultradian oscillators can operate independently of the SCN clock, and can be driven to periodicities in the 12-100 hour range under high dopaminergic tone. Some of these oscillators may be constrained to circadian periods and control activity rhythms that anticipate daily meals or other rewards that activate dopamine neurons at ∼24-hr intervals. Daily variations in activity may therefore reflect joint control by ultradian and circadian oscillators under dopamine control.
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