Timekeeping by the pineal gland

Abstract

N-Acetyltransferase, an enzyme involved in melatonin production in the pineal gland, exhibits a circadian rhythm in chickens with peak values in the dark-time and low values during the light-time, commencing at lights-on. When pineal glands of chickens killed during the dark-time (with high N-acetyltransferase activity) were organ-cultured, there was a decline in enzyme activity to light-time values. Regardless of the time of the dark at which the chickens were killed, the enzyme activity reached light-time levels at precisely the same time.