Use of running wheels regulates the effects of the ovaries on circadian rhythms

Free-running circadian rhythms in core temperature, wheel-running and general locomotor activity were studied in ovariectomized or intact female rats housed with or without access to a running wheel. No differences in the monitored parameters were found between the intact and ovariectomized rats without a wheel. In the presence of a wheel, however, the intact rats differed from those that had been ovariectomized by displaying a shorter circadian period, an increased amplitude of the temperature rhythm, and strikingly higher rates of wheel-running and general locomotor activity. After estradiol treatment, the ovariectomized rats with a wheel developed a small increase in the temperature amplitude, and also in the correlation between wheel-running and general locomotor activity; these changes were not associated with a significant increase in wheel-running or a shortening of the circadian period. We conclude that some of the differences in circadian function between intact and ovariectomized rats are due to the differential use they make of running wheels, when available, and not directly attributable to the absence or presence of gonadal steroids.