Diurnal modulation of pacemaker potentials and calcium current in the mammalian circadian clock

Cyriel M. A. Pennartz (), Marcel T. G. de Jeu, Nico P. A. Bos, Jeroen Schaap and Alwin M. S. Geurtsen
Additional contact information
Cyriel M. A. Pennartz: Netherlands Institute for Brain Research
Marcel T. G. de Jeu: Netherlands Institute for Brain Research
Nico P. A. Bos: Netherlands Institute for Brain Research
Jeroen Schaap: Netherlands Institute for Brain Research
Alwin M. S. Geurtsen: Netherlands Institute for Brain Research

Nature, 2002, vol. 416, issue 6878, 286-290

Abstract: Abstract The central biological clock of the mammalian brain is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. This hypothalamic region contains neurons that generate a circadian rhythm on a single-cell basis. Clock cells transmit their circadian timing signals to other brain areas by diurnal modulation of their spontaneous firing rate. The intracellular mechanism underlying rhythm generation is thought to consist of one or more self-regulating molecular loops, but it is unknown how these loops interact with the plasma membrane to modulate the ionic conductances that regulate firing behaviour. Here we demonstrate a diurnal modulation of Ca2+ current in suprachiasmatic neurons. This current strongly contributes to the generation of spontaneous oscillations in membrane potential, which occur selectively during daytime and are tightly coupled to spike generation. Thus, day–night modulation of Ca2+ current is a central step in transducing the intracellular cycling of molecular clocks to the rhythm in spontaneous firing rate.

Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature728 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:416:y:2002:i:6878:d:10.1038_nature728

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature728

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().