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The ability to synchronize to light-dark (LD) cycles is an essential property of the circadian clock, located in mammals within the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). Single light pulses activate nitric oxide (NO) intracellular signaling, leading to circadian phase-shifts required for synchronization. In addition, extracellular NO has a role in the SCN paracrine communication of photic phase advances. In this work, the extracellular nitrergic transmission was assessed in steady-state synchronization to LD cycles of locomotor rhythms in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). Extracellular NO levels were pharmacologically decreased in vivo with the specific scavenger, 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-oxide (PTIO). Hamsters were subjected to LD cycles different from normal 24 h (LD 14 : 10) cycles (i.e. T-cycles), with a single 30-min light pulse presented either every 23 h (T23 cycles), or every 25 h (T25 cycles), thus allowing synchronization by advances or delays, respectively. Acute PTIO intracerebroventricular microinjections, delivered 30 min previous to the light pulse, inhibited synchronization by phase advances to T23 cycles, but did not alter phase delays under T25 cycles. In addition, NO scavenging inhibited light-induced expression of PERIOD1 protein at circadian time 18 (i.e. the time for light-induced phase advances). These findings demonstrate the role of extracellular NO communication within the SCN in the steady-state synchronization to LD cycles.

Circadian rhythms are entrained by light and by several neurochemical stimuli. In hamsters housed in constant darkness, i.c.v. administration of nerve growth factor (NGF) at various times in their circadian cycle produced phase shifts of locomotor activity rhythms that were similar in direction and circadian timing to those produced by brief pulses of light. Moreover, the effect of NGF and light were not additive, indicating signalling points in common. These points include the immediate-early gene c-fos and ERK1/2, a component of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) family. NGF activates c-FOS and ERK1/2-MAPK in the suprachiasmatic nuclei, the site of a circadian clock in mammals, when administered during the subjective night but not during the day. The effect of NGF on ERK1/2 activation was not inhibited by the administration of MK-801, a glutamate/NMDA receptor antagonist. These results suggest that NGF, acting through MAPK activation, plays a role in photic entrainment of the mammalian circadian clock.