Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Recording and Analysis of Circadian Rhythms in Running-wheel Activity in Rodents
Published on: January 24, 2013
[Diurnal rhythm of sensitivity of nerve cell genome activity to changed motor regime]
Abstract:
Diurnal variations in the incorporation of labelled precursors of RNA and proteins into the spinal, stem, and cerebral cell populations of the rat nervous system were studied on surviving brain slices under standard conditions and during exercise by swimming. Cosinor analysis of the relative level of 3H-uridine incorporation into spinal ganglia L5, superior cervical ganglia, spinal cord L5, hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei and cerebellar cortex revealed that the arrangement of the calculated acrophases of these organs in the dark period of a day. The acrophases of visual and somatosensory cortical cells were observed in the light period of a day. The calculated maximum values of the rate of 3H-leucine incorporation into nerve cell proteins (the internal acrophases ranged from 3 to 9 hours) were seen at certain intervals. Thus, the processes providing the function of a protein-synthesizing apparatus of nerve cells are characterized by a definite time organization and these processes vary significantly in their activity during a diurnal cycle. Depending on the time of a day when exercise was performed, there were differences in the changing activity of genetic and protein-synthesizing apparatuses during nerve cell reactions. This is associated with the different time of the onset of a reaction, passage of its some stages, with the rate of processes, and with the periods of normalization. The curves of a phasic response are discussed.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Neural Regulation
Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation
Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation
Generation of Action Potential in Skeletal Muscles
Like neurons, muscle cells are also regarded as excitable due to their capacity to change in response to stimuli, primarily due to voltage-gated ion channels embedded in their plasma membranes, which get activated by alterations in the cell's...
Motor Unit Stimulation
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...

