Food Anticipatory Activity Behavior of Mice across a Wide Range of Circadian and Non-Circadian Intervals

Abstract

When rodents are fed in a limited amount during the daytime, they rapidly redistribute some of their nocturnal activity to the time preceding the delivery of food. In rats, anticipation of a daily meal has been interpreted as a circadian rhythm controlled by a food-entrained oscillator (FEO) with circadian limits to entrainment. Lesion experiments place this FEO outside of the light-entrainable circadian pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Mice also anticipate a fixed daily meal, but circadian limits to entrainment and anticipation of more than 2 daily meals, have not been assessed. We used a video-based behavior recognition system to quantify food anticipatory activity in mice receiving 2, 3, or 6 daily meals at intervals of 12, 8, or 4-hours (h). Individual mice were able to anticipate as many as 4 of 6 daily meals, and anticipation persisted during meal omission tests. On the 6 meal schedule, pre-prandial activity and body temperature were poorly correlated, suggesting independent regulation. Mice showed a limited ability to anticipate an 18 h feeding schedule. Finally, mice showed concurrent circadian and sub-hourly anticipation when provided with 6 small meals, at 30 minute intervals, at a fixed time of day. These results indicate that mice can anticipate feeding opportunities at a fixed time of day across a wide range of intervals not previously associated with anticipatory behavior in studies of rats. The methods described here can be exploited to determine the extent to which timing of different intervals in mice relies on common or distinct neural and molecular mechanisms.

Behavioural changes are a major contributing factor in the reduction of sarcopenia in caloric-restricted ageing mice

“…Increasing evidence suggests that in humans, regular physical exercise has beneficial effects on health, independently from a reduced body weight . We recorded a typical biphasic response, as has been described earlier, with very high activity prior to the feeding and an overall low activity during the rest of the day. This peak activity could be regarded as a so‐called bout of exercise.…”

Daily Scheduled High Fat Meals Moderately Entrain Behavioral Anticipatory Activity, Body Temperature, and Hypothalamic c-Fos Activation

“…However, any causality between increased body temperature and FAA induction remains unproven [23], [31], [32], [33], [34]. In fact, in our recent study of feeding CR meals at 4 hour intervals, we observed a clear dissociation of body temperature and FAA, suggesting that these can be entrained independently and one is not required for the other to occur [35].…”

Pregnancy-induced changes in ultradian rhythms persist in circadian arrhythmic Siberian hamsters

“…Unlike circadian, circannual, lunar, and tidal rhythms, URs are not an evolved match to recurring environmental signals (Daan and Aschoff, 1981); attempts to entrain URs with zeitgebers in the ultradian range generally have been unsuccessful (Gerkema et al, 1993; Redlin and Mrosovsky, 1999, but see Luby et al, 2012), although phase setting by sunrise (Madison, 1981) and sunset (Halle, 1995) have been reported for URs of voles in the field. An intrinsic mechanism (see Gerkema et al, 1990) perhaps augmented by homeostatic feedback has been proposed for generation of URs (Halle and Stenseth, 1994).…”