Die circannuale Uhr, ihre Lokalisation und Synchronisation

• Antragstellerin: Dr. Stefanie Monecke
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Biochemie und Physiologie der Tiere
• Förderung: Förderung von 2006 bis 2010
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 26682976

The aim of this project is to 1) localize the circannual clock, to investigate 2) the possibility that the circannual clock might get photoperiodic information by other pathways than melatonin and 3) the particularities of photoperiodic time measurement in the field. My model species is the circannual European hamster whose circannual driven changes in the daily activity pattern characterize an annual phase of sensitivity to short photoperiods. Thus, at the beginning and the end of the sensitive phase the circadian and the circannual clock communicate and the brain areas that form the circannual clock should show a different metabolism than at other times of year. To visualize this the functional magnetic resonance imaging technique will be adapted to European hamsters with the aim to localize the circannual clock. Recent studies suggested that in European hamsters not only melatonin mediates photoperiodic information to the circannual clock. To test this, pinealectomized animals will be subjected to an exotic photoperiodic cycle. A synchronization would prove the existence of such a pathway, which then will be explored. A third study will address the question of the decline of European hamsters in Western Europe where females have too few litters per year to ensure the continuity of the population. This might be due to a major delay in emergence from hibernacula and thus due to a misaligned circannual clock. In outdoor enclosures, recording techniques will be developed to examine photoperiodic time measurement in the field.

• DFG-Verfahren: Forschungsstipendien
• Internationaler Bezug: Frankreich
• Gastgeber: Professor Dr. Paul Pévet