Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 28, 2025
07:34
Manipulation of Rhythmic Food Intake in Mice Using a Custom-Made Feeding System
Published on: December 16, 2022
2.7K
Food as circadian time cue for appetitive behavior
1Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A2S6, Canada.
F1000Research
|February 13, 2020
Summary
Feeding schedules synchronize body clocks for daily rhythms. Circulating signals like ghrelin, ketones, and insulin may drive food-anticipatory activity, potentially converging on the dorsal striatum.
Area of Science:
- Chronobiology
- Neuroscience
- Metabolic Signaling
Background:
- Feeding schedules entrain circadian clocks in the brain and periphery, synchronizing behavior and physiology.
- Peripheral clocks are synchronized by nutrients and hormones, but brain clock synchronization with feeding time is less understood.
- Food-anticipatory activity rhythms emerge when food intake is restricted to a daily mealtime.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore signals that synchronize brain circadian clocks with feeding time.
- To consider the role of circulating ghrelin, ketone bodies, and insulin in food-anticipatory activity.
- To evaluate the evidence for a distributed system versus a central location for food-entrained oscillators.
Main Methods:
- Commentary and synthesis of existing research on circadian rhythms and feeding behavior.
- Analysis of potential roles for circulating metabolic signals (ghrelin, ketones, insulin).
- Consideration of the dorsal striatum as a candidate location for food-entrained oscillators.
Main Results:
- Evidence suggests ghrelin, ketones, and insulin may influence food-anticipatory behavior but lack established necessary or sufficient roles.
- Existing data do not fully explain the circadian properties of anticipatory rhythms.
- The dorsal striatum is proposed as a potential convergence site for feeding-related signals and circadian oscillators.
Conclusions:
- Circulating metabolic signals may participate in circadian food anticipation by modulating dopamine signaling in the dorsal striatum.
- While a distributed system is possible, evidence does not rule out convergence on a central location like the dorsal striatum.
- Further research is needed to clarify the precise mechanisms and location of food-entrained circadian oscillators.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Regulation of Food Intake
2.2K
Short-term regulation of food intake primarily involves neural signals from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, blood nutrient levels, and GI tract hormones. Communication between the gut and brain via vagal nerve fibers plays a significant role in evaluating the contents of the gut. Clinical studies have shown that protein ingestion produces a more prolonged response in these nerve fibers compared to an equivalent amount of glucose. Additionally, the activation of stretch receptors caused by GI...
2.2K
02:19Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation
4.5K
The biological clock is involved in many aspects of regulating complex physiology in all animals. It was in 1935 when German zoologists, Hans Kalmus and Erwin Bünning, discovered the existence of circadian rhythm in Drosophila melanogaster. However, the internal molecular mechanisms behind the circadian clock remained a mystery until 1984, when Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young discovered the expression of the Per gene oscillating over a 24-hour cycle. In subsequent...
4.5K
02:45Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses
41.4K
The circadian—or biological—clock is an intrinsic, timekeeping, molecular mechanism that allows plants to coordinate physiological activities over 24-hour cycles called circadian rhythms. Photoperiodism is a collective term for the biological responses of plants to variations in the relative lengths of dark and light periods. The period of light-exposure is called the photoperiod.
41.4K
01:25Primary Motives: Hunger and Thirst
1.2K
Hunger and thirst are fundamental physiological drives crucial for maintaining homeostasis and ensuring the survival of both humans and animals. These drives are regulated through complex interactions between the brain, hormones, and sensory receptors.
Hunger arises when the brain detects changes in the body's nutrient levels, including glucose, lipids, amino acids, and hormones such as ghrelin and leptin. The hypothalamus plays a central role in hunger regulation. The lateral hypothalamus...
Hunger arises when the brain detects changes in the body's nutrient levels, including glucose, lipids, amino acids, and hormones such as ghrelin and leptin. The hypothalamus plays a central role in hunger regulation. The lateral hypothalamus...
1.2K
00:48Optimal Foraging
13.3K
How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
13.3K
01:08Timing and Consequences on Behavior
295
In operant conditioning, the timing of reinforcement is crucial. For animals like rats and cats, immediate reinforcement (within a few seconds) is much more effective than delayed reinforcement. For example, a food reward for a rat needs to follow within 30 seconds of pressing a bar to be effective.
Humans, however, can respond to delayed reinforcers. We often make decisions between immediate small rewards and delayed larger rewards. This ability to delay gratification is a significant...
Humans, however, can respond to delayed reinforcers. We often make decisions between immediate small rewards and delayed larger rewards. This ability to delay gratification is a significant...
295