TY - JOUR
T1 - Daily electrical silencing in the mammalian circadian clock
AU - Belle, Mino D.C.
AU - Diekman, Casey
AU - Forger, Daniel B.
AU - Piggins, Hugh D.
PY - 2009/10/9
Y1 - 2009/10/9
N2 - Neurons in the brain's suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCNs), which control the timing of daily rhythms, are thought to encode time of day by changing their firing frequency, with high rates during the day and lower rates at night. Some SCN neurons express a key clock gene, period 1 (per1 We found that during the day, neurons containing per1 sustain an electrically excited state and do not fire, whereas non-per1 neurons show the previously reported daily variation in firing activity. Using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, we explain how ionic currents lead to the unusual electrophysiological behaviors of per1 cells, which unlike other mammalian brain cells can survive and function at depolarized states.
AB - Neurons in the brain's suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCNs), which control the timing of daily rhythms, are thought to encode time of day by changing their firing frequency, with high rates during the day and lower rates at night. Some SCN neurons express a key clock gene, period 1 (per1 We found that during the day, neurons containing per1 sustain an electrically excited state and do not fire, whereas non-per1 neurons show the previously reported daily variation in firing activity. Using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, we explain how ionic currents lead to the unusual electrophysiological behaviors of per1 cells, which unlike other mammalian brain cells can survive and function at depolarized states.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70349855214&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=70349855214&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.1169657
DO - 10.1126/science.1169657
M3 - Article
C2 - 19815775
AN - SCOPUS:70349855214
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 326
SP - 281
EP - 284
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 5950
ER -