"Dark-active" rat transformed into "light-active" rat by destruction of 24-hr clock: function of 24-hr clock and synchronizers

Abstract

In alternating 12-hr periods of light and dark the rat is active mainly in the dark. Its activity in the dark (beginning at 1800) depends exclusively on release of activity by the 24-hr clock. In the light (beginning at 0600) the 24-hr clock inhibits activity; the normal rat becomes totally inactive in the light except for activity resulting from external stimulation. After section of the connections between the optic chiasma and the hypothalamus, some rats become totally and permanently inactive in the dark. This sectioning destroys the 24-hr clock. After destruction of the clock removes inhibition of activity in the light period, the rat becomes active promptly at start of the light period--i.e., becomes a "light-active" animal. In the normal rat, activity becomes synchronized to start of the dark (by the electric clock at 1800), regardless of the amounts of activity. Destruction of the 24-hr clock eliminates the synchronizer at 1800. However, almost at once, activity, eating, and drinking are kept together by a second synchronizer, start of the light (by the electric clock at 0600). This may explain the ability of the rat to survive after destruction of the 24-hr clock.