Top-down modeling of hierarchical biological clock mechanisms

The behavior of human circadian rhythms could be interpreted within the two-oscillator regime: one for the circadian pacemaker driving temperature/plasma melatonin rhythm and the other for the sleep[ndash]wake rhythm, tentatively called the SCN (suprachiasmatic nucleus) oscillator and non-SCN oscillator, respectively. Recently, the existence of the non-SCN oscillator was demonstrated through showing the possibility of non-photic entrainments by the shifted sleep schedule, and its interactions with the SCN oscillator were disclosed through analyzing the re-entrainment processes. Based on these experimental results at the behavioral level, we developed a phase oscillator model consisting of mutually coupled SCN and non-SCN oscillators, and an extra-oscillator representing an overt sleep[ndas…

Related posts:

1. Shift work: coping with the biological clock
2. Chronobiological Disorders: Current and Prevalent Conditions
3. Effect of melatonin on age induced changes in daily serotonin rhythms in suprachiasmatic nucleus of male Wistar rat.
4. Melatonin, circadian rhythms, and the clock genes in bipolar disorder
5. Circadian Rhythm Disorders