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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 5, 2026

Manipulation of Rhythmic Food Intake in Mice Using a Custom-Made Feeding System

Manipulation of Rhythmic Food Intake in Mice Using a Custom-Made Feeding System

Published on: December 16, 2022

Is the FEO Food-Entrainable? Reexamining the Classic Fred Stephan Experiment Using Canonical-Clock-Less Period 1/2/3

S K Tahajjul Taufique¹, David E Ehichioya^1,2, Sofia Farah¹

¹Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.

Journal of Biological Rhythms

|May 4, 2026

Summary

Nocturnal rodents exhibit food-anticipatory activity (FAA) driven by a food-entrainable oscillator (FEO). This study shows the FEO can entrain to feeding schedules even without light cues or a functional suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).

Keywords:

circadian feeding food seeking metabolism obesity

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Assessment of the Metabolic Effects of Isocaloric 2:1 Intermittent Fasting in Mice

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Last Updated: May 5, 2026

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Automated, Quantitative Cognitive/Behavioral Screening of Mice: For Genetics, Pharmacology, Animal Cognition and Undergraduate Instruction

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Assessment of the Metabolic Effects of Isocaloric 2:1 Intermittent Fasting in Mice

Assessment of the Metabolic Effects of Isocaloric 2:1 Intermittent Fasting in Mice

Published on: November 27, 2019

Area of Science:

Chronobiology
Behavioral Neuroscience
Circadian Rhythms

Background:

Nocturnal rodents display food-anticipatory activity (FAA), a behavior regulated by a circadian pacemaker independent of the central suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).
This pacemaker, termed the food-entrainable oscillator (FEO), was previously thought to be entrainable by light-dark cycles.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether the food-entrainable oscillator (FEO) can be entrained by feeding schedules independently of light cues.
To re-examine Fred Stephan's hypothesis that the FEO is primarily food-entrainable.

Main Methods:

Utilized *Period 1/2/3* triple knockout (KO) mice lacking functional SCN and peripheral circadian oscillators.
Subjected KO mice to restricted feeding schedules under constant darkness.
Measured food-seeking nose-poking behavior using an operant feeding device.

Main Results:

A subset of KO mice exhibited food-seeking nose-poking that entrained to the restricted feeding schedule.
This behavior also re-entrained to shifted feeding schedules, even in the absence of light-dark cycles.
Demonstrated that the FEO can be entrained by feeding cycles independently of the SCN and light.

Conclusions:

The food-entrainable oscillator (FEO) is indeed entrainable by feeding schedules.
This entrainment can occur independently of the central circadian pacemaker in the SCN and environmental light cues.
Supports the original hypothesis that the FEO is primarily food-entrainable.