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Optical fiber used in resetting mouse circadian clock
Optical fiber used in resetting mouse circadian clock.
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A team of Vanderbilt University biologists has found a way to use a laser and an optical fiber to reset an animal's master biological clock.
Douglas McMahon, a Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt who directed the study, says "we found we can change an animal’s sleep/wake rhythms by artificially stimulating the neurons in the master biological clock, which is located in an area of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), with a laser and an optical fiber."
Mice were used for the study because -- with the exception of their nocturnal lifestyle -- researchers have found that mice possess a biological clock nearly identical to that of humans.
The researchers used a new technique called optogenetics to manipulate the firing rate of the SCN neurons. The technique inserts genes that express optically sensitive proteins into target cells in order to make the cells respond to light.
For the project, the researchers genetically engineered two strains of mice. In one strain, the neurons in the brain contained an optically sensitive protein that triggers neuronal activity when exposed to light. In the other strain, the neurons in the brain had a similar protein that suppressed neuronal activity when exposed to light.
Doctoral student Michael Tackenberg, who worked on the project, is currently testing whether strains of mice that suffer from seasonal affective disorder respond to the new approach.
The discovery could, in principle, be used therapeutically to treat conditions like seasonal affect disorder, reduce the adverse health effects of night shift work and possibly even cure jet lag.
The study was funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (grant DGE 09-09667).
To learn more about this research, see the NSF News From the Field story New 'reset' button discovered for circadian clock. (Date image taken: January 2015; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: March 7, 2016)
Credit: Steve Green
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