The Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) has been involved in the field of chronobiology, i.e., in research on temporal regulation of physiological processes, since 1970. The review describes the first 35 years of the research mostly on the effect of light and daylength, i.e., photoperiod, on entrainment or resetting of the pineal rhythm in melatonin production and of intrinsic rhythms in the central biological clock. This clock controls pineal and other circadian rhythms and is located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus. During the early chronobiological research, many original findings have been reported, e.g. on mechanisms of resetting of the pineal rhythm in melatonin production by short light pulses or by long exposures of animals to light at night, on modulation of the nocturnal melatonin production by the photoperiod or on the presence of high affinity melatonin binding sites in the SCN. The first evidence was given that the photoperiod modulates functional properties of the SCN and hence the SCN not only controls the daily programme of the organism but it may serve also as a calendar measuring the time of a year. During all the years, the chronobiological community has started to talk about "the Czech school of chronobiology". At present, the today´s Laboratory of Biological Rhythms of the Institute of Physiology CAS continues in the chronobiological research and the studies have been extended to the entire circadian timekeeping system in mammals with focus on its ontogenesis, entrainment mechanisms and circadian regulation of physiological functions. Key words: Pineal, Melatonin, AA-NAT rhythm, Light entrainment, Photoperiod, SCN clock.

• MeSH
• Academies and Institutes MeSH
• Biological Clocks physiology   MeSH
• Circadian Clocks physiology   MeSH
• Circadian Rhythm * physiology   MeSH
• History, 20th Century MeSH
• History, 21st Century MeSH
• Pineal Gland * metabolism   physiology   MeSH
• Photoperiod MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Melatonin metabolism   MeSH
• Brain metabolism   physiology   MeSH
• Suprachiasmatic Nucleus physiology   metabolism   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• History, 20th Century MeSH
• History, 21st Century MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Historical Article MeSH
• Review MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Melatonin MeSH

The mammalian suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) and their intrinsic rhythmicity develop gradually during ontogenesis. In the rat, the SCN forms between embryonic day (E) 14 and E17, with gestation terminating at E21-22. Overt SCN rhythmicity is already present in the late embryonic stage. The aim of the present study was to determine when the fetal SCN clock develops in vivo and whether overt rhythmicity results from a functional fetal clock. To achieve this goal, the prenatal development of rhythmic expression of clock genes was measured with a more sensitive method for detection of the clock gene expression than previously. Fetal SCN were collected at 3 h intervals during the 24 h period on E19 and E21 by laser dissection and expression of clock genes (Per2, Nr1d1 and Bmal1) and genes related to cellular activity (c-fos, Avp and Vip) was measured by qRT PCR. At E19, the expression of canonical clock genes Per2 and Bmal1 was not rhythmic; however, the expression of all other studied genes followed clear circadian rhythms. At E21, Per2 and Bmal1 expression exhibited low amplitude but significant rhythmicity. From E19 to E21, the levels of the non-rhythmic transcripts (Per2 and Bmal1) decreased; however, the levels of the rhythmic transcripts (Nr1d1, c-fos, Avp and Vip) increased. In summary, these data demonstrate that at E19, rhythms in Per2 and Bmal1 expression were absent in the fetal SCN; however, the expression of Nr1d1 and other genes related to cellular activity was driven rhythmically. Therefore, at the early stage in vivo, the developing fetal SCN clock could theoretically be entrained by oscillation of Nr1d1 which may be driven by the maternal rather than fetal circadian system.

• MeSH
• Circadian Rhythm Signaling Peptides and Proteins genetics   MeSH
• Circadian Rhythm genetics   MeSH
• Rats MeSH
• Suprachiasmatic Nucleus metabolism   physiology   MeSH
• Fetus metabolism   physiology   MeSH
• Rats, Wistar MeSH
• Transcriptome * MeSH
• Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Rats MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Circadian Rhythm Signaling Peptides and Proteins MeSH

The mapping of time structures, chronomes, constitutes an endeavor spawned by chronobiology: chronomics. This cartography in time shows signatures on the surface of the earth, cycles, also accumulating in life on the earth's surface. We append a glossary of these and other cycles, the names being coined in the light of approximate cycle length. These findings are transdisciplinary, in view of their broad representation and critical importance in the biosphere. Suggestions of mechanisms are derived from an analytical statistical documentation of characteristics with superposed epochs and superposed cycles and other "remove-and-replace" approaches. These approaches use the spontaneously changing presence or absence of an environmental, cyclic or other factor for the study of any corresponding changes in the biosphere. We illustrate the indispensability of the mapping of rhythm characteristics in broader structures, chronomes, along several or all available different time scales. We present results from a cooperative cartography of about 10, about 20, and about 50-year rhythms in the context of a broad endeavor concerned with the Biosphere and the Cosmos, the BIOCOS project. The participants in this project are our co-authors worldwide, beyond Brno and Minneapolis; the studies of human blood pressure and heart rate around the clock and along the week may provide the evidence for those influences that Mendel sought in meteorology and climatology.

• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH