Dissociating the Effects of Light at Night from Circadian Misalignment in a Neurodevelopmental Disorder Mouse Model Using Ultradian Light-Dark Cycles.

ABSTRACT: Individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) often experience sleep disturbances and are frequently exposed to light during nighttime hours. Our previous studies using the Contactin-associated protein-like 2 (Cntnap2) knockout (KO) mouse model of NDDs demonstrated that nighttime light exposure adversely affected behavioral measures. In this study, we exposed wild-type (WT) and Cntnap2 KO mice to an ultradian lighting cycle (T7), which alternates 3.5 h of light and 3.5 h of darkness, hypothesizing that this lighting protocol would mimic the impact of nighttime light exposure seen in standard light-dark cycles with dim light at night (DLaN). However, adult WT and Cntnap2 KO mice held under the T7 cycle did not show the increased grooming behavior or reduce

SUBMITTER: Villanueva SAMB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12452560 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature