The ‘suprachiasmatic syndrome’: endocrine and behavioural abnormalities following lesions of the suprachiasmatic nuclei in the female rat

Abstract

Lesions of the suprachiasmatic nuclei that caused failure of spontaneous ovulation in female rats consistently produced abnormalities in other functions that are normally influenced by the light-dark cycle. In such animals morning plasma corticosterone concentrations were abnormally high and evening values abnormally low though the response to stress was unaffected. Pineal serotonin N-acetyl transferase activity was abnormally high in animals killed during the day and abnormally low in those killed at night. Although the animals were in persistent behavioural oestrus, total voluntary wheel-running activity was not consistently altered but was distributed evenly between the light and dark periods rather than being confined principally to the dark periods as in normal animals. Similarly the proportion of the daily water and food intake that occurred during the dark period was reduced. The incidence of these associated abnormalities was low in lesioned rats that continued to ovulate spontaneously.