Modeling natural photic entrainment in a subterranean rodent (Ctenomys aff. knighti), the Tuco-Tuco.

ABSTRACT: Subterranean rodents spend most of the day inside underground tunnels, where there is little daily change in environmental variables. Our observations of tuco-tucos (Ctenomys aff. knighti) in a field enclosure indicated that these animals perceive the aboveground light-dark cycle by several bouts of light-exposure at irregular times during the light hours of the day. To assess whether such light-dark pattern acts as an entraining agent of the circadian clock, we first constructed in laboratory the Phase Response Curve for 1 h light-pulses (1000lux). Its shape is qualitatively similar to other curves reported in the literature and to our knowledge it is the first Phase Response Curve of a subterranean rodent. Computer simulations were performed with a non-linear limit-cycle oscillator subje

SUBMITTER: Flores DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3707898 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature