Scheduled exposures to a novel environment with a running‐wheel differentially accelerate re‐entrainment of mice peripheral clocks to new light–dark cycles

Abstract

Effects of scheduled exposures to novel environment with a running-wheel were examined on re-entrainment to 8 h shifted light-dark (LD) cycles of mouse circadian rhythms in locomotor activity and clock gene, Per1, expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and peripheral tissues. Per1 expression was monitored by a bioluminescence reporter introduced into mice. The animals were exposed to the novel environment for 3 h from the shifted dark onset for four cycles and released into constant darkness. In the phase-advance shift, the circadian rhythm in locomotor activity fully re-entrained in the exposed group, whereas it was in transients in the control. On the other hand, the circadian rhythm of Per1 expression in the SCN almost completely re-entrained in both the control and exposed groups. In the skeletal muscle and lung, the circadian rhythm fully re-entrained in the exposed group, whereas the rhythms in the control did not. In the phase-delay shift, the circadian rhythms in locomotor activity and Per1 expression almost completely re-entrained in both groups. These findings indicate that the scheduled exposures to novel environment with a running-wheel differentially accelerate the re-entrainment of the mouse peripheral clocks to 8 h phase-advanced LD cycles.