Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1988;72(1):37-42.
doi: 10.1007/BF01244630.

Light transducer for the biological clock: a function for rapid eye movements

A H Livermore Jr  1 , J R Stevens
Affiliations

Light transducer for the biological clock: a function for rapid eye movements

A H Livermore Jr et al. J Neural Transm. 1988.

Abstract

To test the hypothesis that the rapid eye movements (REMs) of paradoxical sleep (PS) transmit information about environmental light: dark cycles, spontaneous locomotor patterns were studied in rats following surgical disconnection of the extraocular muscles and thus deprived only of the eye movement component of REM sleep. Entrainment of the circadian spontaneous activity cycle to the light: dark cycle was abolished after sectioning the extra-ocular muscles of rats, but not in sham-operated controls. Endogenous (free running) circadian patterns of spontaneous activity were preserved in the operated animals. The results are consistent with our electrophysiologic studies showing that REMs induce light modulated electrical potentials in brain regions that influence circadian rhythms of activity.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ann Neurol. 1979 May;5(5):453-7 - PubMed
    1. Exp Neurol. 1978 Jul;60(3):541-56 - PubMed
    1. Brain Res. 1976 Sep 17;114(2):305-17 - PubMed
    1. Life Sci. 1982 Feb 7;30(6):495-501 - PubMed
    1. Physiol Behav. 1971 Apr;6(4):279-82 - PubMed