Summary
This thesis demonstrates that a high-fat, high-sugar diet disrupts circadian clock gene expression (PER2, Per2) in food-reward brain regions including the Lateral Habenula and Nucleus Accumbens, altering day-night feeding patterns. For lighting and wellbeing practitioners, these findings highlight that diet-induced circadian disruption in reward circuits may compound or interact with light-driven circadian misalignment, suggesting that circadian health interventions should consider both photic and non-photic factors.
Key Findings
- fcHFHS diet altered day-night eating patterns and PER2 clock-protein expression in the Lateral Habenula in mice
- Per2 gene expression was disrupted in the Nucleus Accumbens of rats on fcHFHS diet, even without changes in LHb clock genes
- Pharmacological blockade of glutamatergic functioning in the LHb altered food intake in a time-dependent manner in both chow and fcHFHS-fed rats
- Npas2 mutant and wild-type mice showed similar diet-induced disruptions in eating patterns, suggesting Npas2 is not a key mediator of fcHFHS-induced rhythm disruption
Categories
Sleep & Circadian Health: Examines how palatable diet disrupts circadian clock gene expression (PER2, Per2, Npas2) and 24-hour behavioral rhythms in reward-related brain areas.
The Science of Light: Investigates clock gene mechanisms and circadian pacemaking at the molecular level, relevant to understanding how non-photic zeitgebers like food interact with circadian systems.
Author(s)
ASB Velazquez
Publication Year
2018
Related Publications
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The twoāprocess model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors
The Science of Light
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- Color appearance models
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice