Protein synthesis inhibitor phase shifts vasopressin rhythms in long-term suprachiasmatic cultures.

Abstract

The effects of anisomycin, a protein synthesis inhibitor, on the circadian rhythm of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) release in organotypic slice cultures of the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus were examined. Anisomycin applied to the culture as a 6-h pulse shifted the phase of the AVP rhythm, depending on the circadian phase at which the pulse was given. The resultant phase-response curve consisted of a delay portion throughout the late subjective night and an advance portion in the middle of subjective day. The present findings suggest that protein synthesis is an important process which constitutes the circadian oscillation and/or the input pathway to the circadian pacemaker within the suprachiasmatic nucleus.