Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide requires parallel changes in adenylate cyclase and phospholipase C to entrain circadian rhythms to a predictable phase.

ABSTRACT: Circadian oscillations in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) depend on transcriptional repression by Period (PER)1 and PER2 proteins within single cells and on vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) signaling between cells. Because VIP is released by SCN neurons in a circadian pattern, and, after photic stimulation, it has been suggested to play a role in the synchronization to environmental light cycles. It is not known, however, if or how VIP entrains circadian gene expression or behavior. Here, we tested candidate signaling pathways required for VIP-mediated entrainment of SCN rhythms. We found that single applications of VIP reset PER2 rhythms in a time- and dose-dependent manner that differed from light. Unlike VIP-mediated signaling in other cell types, simultaneous antagonism of ade

SUBMITTER: An S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3094187 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature