Accelerated re-entrainment to advanced light cycles in BALB/cJ mice

Circadian rhythms in mammals are coordinated by the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus, which are most potently synchronized to environmental light–dark cycles. Large advances in the light–dark cycle typically yield gradual advances in activity rhythms on the order of 1–2 h per day until re-entrainment is complete due to limitations on the circadian system which are not yet understood. In humans, this delay until re-entrainment is accomplished is experienced as jetlag, with accompanying symptoms of malaise, decreased cognitive performance, sleep problems and gastrointestinal distress. In these experiments, locomotor rhythms of BALB/cJ mice monitored by running wheels were shown to re-entrain to large 6- or 8-hour shifts of the light–dark cycle within 1–2 days, as opposed to the 5–7 days required for C57BL/6J mice. A single-day 6-hour advance of the LD cycle followed by release to constant darkness yielded similar phase shifts, demonstrating that exaggerated re-entrainment is not explained by masking of activity by the light–dark cycle. Responses in BALB/cJ mice were similar when monitored instead by motion detectors, indicating that wheel-running exercise does not influence the magnitude of responses. Neither brief (15 min) light exposure late during subjective nighttime nor 6-hour delays of the light–dark cycle produced exaggerated locomotor phase shifts, indicating that BALB/cJ mice do not merely experience enhanced sensitivity to light. Fos protein was expressed in cells of the SCN following acute light exposure at ZT10 of their previous light–dark cycle, a normally non-responsive time in the circadian cycle, but only in BALB/cJ (and not C57BL/6J) mice that had been subjected two days earlier to a single-day 6-hour advance of the light–dark cycle, indicating that their SCN had been advanced by that treatment. BALB/cJ mice may thus serve as a useful comparative model for studying molecular and physiological processes that limit responsiveness of circadian clocks to photic input.