Scheduled daily exercise or feeding alters the phase of photic entrainment in Syrian hamsters

Abstract

Single daily bouts of appropriately timed activity can phase-shift or entrain circadian rhythms in rodents maintained in constant dark (DD). Whether this apparent feedback of behavioral activity to the circadian pacemaker has any adaptive significance is unclear; circadian rhythms are normally entrained by light-dark (LD) cycles, and this may override any effects of activity. To address this issue, the phase of entrainment to LD cycles was examined in hamsters exposed to a daily exercise schedule (3 h of induced wheel running). Hamsters exercised late in the dark showed a significant delay of entrained phase in LD (i.e., they became relative “night owls”) and lengthening of free-running periodicity in DD, compared to controls and hamsters exercised in midlight. Hamsters fed in midlight (arousal without wheel running) showed a significant advance of LD entrained phase (i.e., they became “early birds”). These observations provide the necessary rationale for further examination of the functional significance of behavioral feedback for the normal entrainment process. In addition, they raise the possibility that the entrained phase of human circadian rhythms can be similarly manipulated by behavioral procedures such as timed exercise.