Timed daily exercise remodels circadian rhythms in mice

Alun T.L. Hughes, Rayna Samuels, Beatriz Bano Otalora, Mino D. C. Belle, Sven Wegner, Clare Guilding, Rebecca Northeast, Andrew S.I. Loudon, John Gigg, Hugh David Piggins*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)
90 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Regular exercise is important for physical and mental health. An underexplored and intriguing property of exercise is its actions on the body’s 24h or circadian rhythms. Molecular clock cells in the brain’s suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) use electrical and chemical signals to orchestrate their activity and convey time of day information to the rest of the brain and body. To date, the long-lasting effects of regular physical exercise on SCN clock cell coordination and communication remain unresolved. Utilizing mouse models in which SCN intercellular neuropeptide signaling is impaired as well as those with intact SCN neurochemical signaling, we examined how daily scheduled voluntary exercise (SVE) influenced behavioral rhythms and SCN molecular and neuronal activities. We show that in mice with disrupted neuropeptide signaling, SVE promotes SCN clock cell synchrony and robust 24h rhythms in behavior. Interestingly, in both intact and neuropeptide signaling deficient animals, SVE reduces SCN neural activity and alters GABAergic signaling. These findings illustrate the potential utility of regular exercise as a long-lasting and effective noninvasive intervention in the elderly or mentally ill where circadian rhythms can be 56 blunted and poorly aligned to the external world.
Original languageEnglish
Article number761
Number of pages17
JournalCommunications Biology
Volume4
Early online date18 Jun 2021
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 18 Jun 2021

Keywords

  • suprachiasmatic
  • vasoactive intestinal polypeptide
  • VIP
  • VPAC2
  • locomotive
  • GABA
  • wheel-running
  • scheduled voluntary exercise
  • SVE
  • electrophysiology
  • bioluminescence
  • synchrony
  • circadian
  • neuropeptide
  • exercise
  • Mouse

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