Cited by 26Circadian rhythm and melatoninHypothalamic control of reproductive hormonesSleep and Wakefulness Research

Changes in and dorsal to the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus during early pregnancy

Open access
Schrader, J.A., Nunez, A.A., Smale, L.·2010·Neuroscience

Abstract

Circadian rhythms in behavior and physiology change as female mammals transition from one reproductive state to another. The mechanisms responsible for this plasticity are poorly understood. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus contains the primary circadian pacemaker in mammals, and a large portion of its efferent projections terminate in the ventral subparaventricular zone (vSPZ), which also plays important roles in rhythm regulation. To determine whether these regions might mediate changes in overt rhythms during early pregnancy, we first compared rhythms in Fos and Per2 protein expression in the SCN and vSPZ of diestrous and early pregnant rats maintained in a 12:12-h light/dark (LD) cycle. No differences in the Fos rhythm were seen in the SCN core, but in the SCN shell, elevated Fos expression was maintained throughout the light phase in pregnant, but not diestrous, rats. In the vSPZ, the Fos rhythm was bimodal in diestrous rats, but this rhythm was lost in pregnant rats. Peak Per2 expression was phase-advanced by 4 h in the SCN of pregnant rats, and some differences in Per2 expression were found in the vSPZ as well. To determine whether differences in Fos expression were due to altered responsivity to light, we next characterized light-induced Fos expression in the SCN and vSPZ of pregnant and diestrous rats in the mid-subjective day and night. We found that the SCN core of the two groups responded in the same way at each time of day, whereas the rhythm of Fos responsivity in the SCN shell and vSPZ differed between diestrous and pregnant rats. These results indicate that the SCN and vSPZ are functionally re-organized during early pregnancy, particularly in how they respond to the photic environment. These changes may contribute to changes in overt behavioral and physiological rhythms that occur at this time.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.08.057

Cites

69 of 69 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • PER2 rhythms are phase-advanced by gonadectomy in males and by early pregnancy in females, but not by the estrous cycle.

    “Rhythms for the clock protein, PER2, are phase-advanced by gonadectomy in males [147], and by early pregnancy in females [169], but not by the estrous cycle [147].”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Schrader, J. A., Nunez, A. A., & Smale, L.
Affiliations
Michigan State University (US)
Corresponding author
Smale, L.
Venue
Neuroscience
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2010-12
Volume
171
Issue
2
Pages
513-523
ISSN
0306-4522 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2118782643
Cited by
26
References
69
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 4
FWCI
1.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
NIH (RO1 MH53433)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
Keywords
suprachiasmatic nucleus, early pregnancy, circadian rhythm, Fos expression, light entrainment, circadian pacemaker, reproductive status, diestrus
MeSH terms
Animals, Circadian Rhythm, Darkness, Diestrus, Female, Light, Male, Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus, Pregnancy, Pregnancy, Animal, Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, Oncogene Proteins v-fos, Rats, Period Circadian Proteins

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review