Light-sampling behavior in photoentrainment of a rodent circadian rhythm

Behavioral aspects of photoentrainment of circadian locomotor activity rhythms were recorded for a nocturnal den-dwelling rodent, the flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans. Methods included both telemetric monitoring and infrared observations of animals under constant dark (DD) or light-dark (LD) schedules in either standard wheel cages or in newly developed simulated den cages. By means of the den cages, several aspects of a circadian activity cycle could be simultaneously measured emphasizing the arousal from rest, the light-sampling behavior by which a squirrel assessed the environmental photoregimen, and the phase-shifting by which photoentrainment was achieved. Each animal in a den cage remained for 12 or more hours of its rest period almost exclusively in the darkened nest box, then at an abrupt arousal time moved to the light-sampling porthole. In darkness each animal initiated wheel activity immediately after arousal; light at arousal time, however, induced a return to the nest box for a nap and a delay phase-shift in onset of activity of approximately 40 min. On subsequent days, each animal appeared to be free-running (tau FR less than 24 h) until onset again advanced into the light period. A squirrel usually viewed only a few minutes light per day, and on free-running days occasionally saw none of the 12-h light period. The significance of these data for theories of circadian photoentrainment is discussed.